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| A woman running to a shelter in her home in Ashkelon, Israel, on Oct. 7. Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times |
Israel knew of Hamas plot more than a year ago
Israeli officials obtained Hamas’s battle plan for the devastating Oct. 7 terrorist attack more than a year before it happened, according to documents, emails and interviews, but they dismissed it as aspirational, considering it too difficult for Hamas to carry out. In fact, Hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision.
Over about 40 pages, a document code-named Jericho Wall by the Israeli authorities outlined exactly the kind of devastating invasion that led to the deaths of about 1,200 people. It did not set a date, but it described a methodical assault designed to overwhelm the fortifications around the Gaza Strip, take over Israeli cities and storm key military bases.
Last year, shortly after the document had been obtained, officials in the Israeli military said that Hamas’s intentions were unclear. Then, in July, just three months before the attacks, a veteran Israeli intelligence analyst warned that Hamas had conducted an intense, daylong training exercise that appeared similar to what was outlined in the blueprint. Those concerns were brushed off.
Concessions: Israeli security officials have already acknowledged that they failed to protect the country, and the government is expected to assemble a commission to study the events leading up to the attacks. The Jericho Wall document lays bare the missteps that culminated in what officials now regard as the worst Israeli intelligence failure in five decades.
More from the war:
| Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, urged Israeli leaders to take concrete steps to reduce civilian deaths in Gaza.At least three people were killed and six others wounded when two Hamas-affiliated gunmen opened fire on the outskirts of Jerusalem.Since the Oct. 7 attacks, extremist settlers in the West Bank have been emboldened, displacing more than 1,000 Palestinians, according to the U.N. |
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| A home in Iranawila, Sri Lanka, that collapsed in June from coastal erosion. Eranga Jayawardena/Associated Press |
A new agreement for countries facing climate disasters
On the first day of the U.N.’s climate summit, known as COP28, diplomats from nearly 200 countries approved a draft plan for a fund to help poor countries hit by climate disasters.
The speedy adoption of the fund was widely viewed as a positive sign for the two-week summit in Dubai, but in a year that scientists say is “virtually certain” to be the hottest in human history, and as emission levels reach record highs, many attendees brought to the summit a sense of disillusionment with the U.N. effort.
“It’s impossible to ignore the fact that the summit is being held inside gleaming new facilities built with oil money,” said David Gelles, a reporter for The Times who is covering the summit.
For more: A detailed analysis explores where the world is, and isn’t, making progress on climate change.
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| Alistair Darling in 2010. Sang Tan/Associated Press |
Alistair Darling dies at 70
Alistair Darling, a British lawmaker and cabinet minister who played a leading role in his country’s response to the 2008 global financial crisis, rescuing troubled banks with huge injections of public money that staved off a broader economic collapse, has died at 70. The cause was cancer, his family said.
Former colleagues recalled a dry wit and a reputation for what Brian Wilson, a former Labour minister, called “a good moral and political compass.” And even his political foes in the Conservative government offered praise: Jeremy Hunt, the current chancellor of the Exchequer, said that Darling was “one of the great chancellors” and that he had done “the right thing for the country at a time of extraordinary turmoil.”Continue reading the main story
THE LATEST NEWS Around the World
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| Anton Vaganov/Reuters |
| Russia’s Supreme Court declared the international L.G.B.T.Q. rights movement an “extremist organization,” escalating the threat to gay communities in Russia.After an indictment accused an Indian official of ordering an assassination on U.S. soil, diplomats and experts are debating how far up the chain the scheme went.The number of malaria cases rose again in 2022, propelled by flooding and warmer weather in areas that were once free of the illness, the W.H.O. said.Fans of a Minnesota moose on the loose, nicknamed Rutt, have been following his every move on Facebook. |
Other Big Stories
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| Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters |
| E.U. inflation fell to a two-year low in November as high interest rates helped ease prices for energy and food.Hosting President João Lourenço of Angola at the White House, President Biden promised a major U.S. investment in the country.The rate of suicides involving guns in the U.S. has reached the highest level since records began in 1968, according to health officials.Demand for lithium, a component in batteries for electric vehicles, is reviving a stagnant North Carolina mine. |
What Else Is Happening
| The British government said it would review a pending deal to put Jeff Zucker, the former president of CNN, in control of two major British media outlets.Jeff Bezos’ new megayacht is so large that it must dock next to oil tankers in Florida.Nearly 300 students at Harvard University have enrolled in a new class: “Taylor Swift and Her World.” |
A Morning Read
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| Neil Hall/EPA, via Shutterstock |
The rollout of a new tell-all book about the British royal family, “Endgame,” has been a hot mess after a thoroughly radioactive nugget turned up in the Dutch edition: the identities of two members of the royal family who once reportedly expressed concerns about the skin color of the unborn child of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan.
None of the British papers initially published the names, referring only to a “senior royal.” But anyone equipped with a smartphone and Google could figure it out in less than 30 seconds.
| SPORTS NEWS |
Exceptional and excruciating: Another difficult night for goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Nothing but backboard: Banked free throws, an unorthodox technique, have a cult following among Korean basketball players.
The story of Nico Paz: Real Madrid’s Champions League match winner.
The 2034 Winter Olympics: Why Salt Lake City makes sense.
| ARTS AND IDEAS |
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| Erik Jacobs for The New York Times |
Remembering Shane MacGowan
Shane MacGowan, the brilliant but chaotic songwriter who as frontman for the Pogues reinvigorated interest in Irish music by harnessing it to the power of punk rock, died this week at 65.
Throughout his life, he earned twin reputations as a titanically destructive personality and a superlative songsmith whose lyrics painted vivid portraits of the underbelly of Irish immigrant life — in songs like the unlikely Christmas classic “Fairytale of New York.”
Bruce Springsteen described him as “a master” at his craft. “A hundred years from now most of us will be forgotten,” he said. “But I do believe that Shane’s music is going to be remembered and sung.”
For more: Amanda Hess, a critic for The Times, writes about MacGowan’s friendship with Sinead O’Connor.
Playlist: Listen to 9 essential tracks.Continue reading the main story
| RECOMMENDATIONS |
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| Andrew Sullivan for The New York Times |
Cook: Customize this cozy bread pudding however you like.
