| Palestinians carrying aid packages delivered in Rafah, southern Gaza, yesterday. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
Crowds overran a new aid distribution site in Gaza
Chaos broke out at a new aid center in the Gaza Strip yesterday, the first full day that humanitarian assistance was distributed through a contentious effort conceived by Israelis.
Footage verified by The Times showed large crowds, including women and young children, running toward the center of the site where boxes of aid had been piled up earlier in the day. In one video, a crowd could be seen running away as several short bursts of gunfire were heard in the distance. Israel’s blockade of aid since March has left Palestinians desperate for supplies.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the organization behind the effort, said that the site was so overwhelmed that the foundation’s team retreated “to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate.”
Cease-fire: Mediators are seeking to urgently broker a deal in Gaza, but Israel, the U.S. and Hamas have sent conflicting messages about progress in truce talks.
West Bank: Israeli soldiers killed Amer Rabee, a 14-year-old Palestinian American, branding him a terrorist. His killing has added to accusations that the Israeli military uses excessive force and operates with impunity.
| Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, left, and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine in Kyiv this month. Genya Savilov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
Germany’s leader steps forward as a key backer of Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine today will pay his first visit to Germany since Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office. With the future of Washington’s commitment to Kyiv in doubt, Merz has become a leading figure in the European alliance supporting Ukraine.
A major topic of conversation is likely to be military aid and, specifically, the Taurus cruise missile, a system jointly developed by Germany and Sweden. The previous government refused to provide the Taurus, a stance Merz criticized. But since taking office, Merz has been vague about whether he will send the missile to Ukraine.
A stronger army: Merz has made military spending a priority, taking out huge loans to rebuild an aging military. He has vowed to make Germany’s army the strongest conventional military force in Europe and to take on more of a leadership role in NATO.
Other developments about Ukraine:
| Russia is building power lines in occupied southeastern Ukraine to link its own grid to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, according to a Greenpeace report.A small but vocal group of Republicans in Congress is urging sweeping new sanctions against Russia, diverging sharply from President Trump’s conciliatory stance. |
King Charles delivered a subtle rebuke to Trump
In a speech formally opening the new session of Canada’s Parliament, King Charles painted a grim picture of the state of the world and suggested the situation was caused by Trump’s economic policies. “We must be cleareyed,” Charles said in Ottawa. “The world is a more dangerous and uncertain place than at any point since the Second World War.”
The visit by the king, who is Canada’s head of state, was seen as a rebuke to Trump’s claims that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state. Prime Minister Mark Carney suggested that he had taken the unusual step of having the monarch open Parliament to emphasize Canada’s distinct heritage from the U.S. Here’s what else to know about the king’s visit.
| MORE TOP NEWS |
| France: A verdict will be handed down today in the trial of a doctor accused of abusing 299 former patients in the biggest pedophilia case in French history. Trump: A federal judge struck down President Trump’s attempt to punish an elite law firm associated with his political opposition. U.K.: Aiming to stop the spread of rumors, the police in Liverpool quickly announced that a driver who rammed his vehicle into a crowd on Monday was a white British man. Here’s how the parade car crash, which injured 65 people, unfolded. Immigration: The U.S. paused interviews abroad for student and visiting scholar visas while it overhauls its system for scrutinizing applicants’ social media. Space: SpaceX’s Starship spun out of control in space before breaking apart during its ninth test flight. Africa: Joseph Kabila, the former president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has returned to his country, arriving in rebel-controlled Goma. Crime: A third person accused of kidnapping a man and torturing him for nearly three weeks in a luxury Manhattan townhouse to steal his Bitcoin fortune surrendered to the police. North Korea: Satellite images and video show how last week’s launch of a new 5,000-ton destroyer turned into an embarrassing failure. |
Tariffs and Business
| China: An all-out trade war with the U.S. could result in huge job losses. |
| Japan: The cabinet approved a $6.3 billion spending package to support businesses and households adversely affected by the tariffs. Ships: A U.S. plan to revive American shipbuilding faces obstacles: U.S. ships cost five times as much to make as Asian ones. |
| SPORTS NEWS |
| Tennis: On Day 3 of the French Open, Novak Djokovic swung into action, as did Coco Gauff. We have live updates. Soccer: We look back at the best, worst and most unusual moments of the 2024-25 English Premier League season. Golf: Why the U.S. Women’s Open comes at a brilliant time for the sport. |
| MORNING READ |
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| Sandro Gromen/Associated Press |
Climbing Mount Everest usually takes weeks, but four men traveled from London to the summit and back in less than seven days with a secret weapon: xenon gas. Inhalation of the gas is thought to improve oxygen levels.
Their feat has roiled the world of mountaineering and prompted an investigation by the government of Nepal. Read more.
| CONVERSATION STARTERS |
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| Patrick Junker for The New York Times |
| Darkness lingers: A German village grapples with a brutal past: It was originally built as a community for the Nazi elite. Jessica McCormack: The jeweler behind Zendaya’s very large engagement ring injects cool-girl energy into pieces for stars. What’s on tap: A writer was wary of tap water. But, after some exploration, she realized “it connects you to the ecosystem around you.” Spoiled views: Residents of a medieval fortress town in Greece are feuding over a plan to build a cable car to the peak, where a beautiful 12th-century church sits. |
| ARTS AND IDEAS |
A sci-fi writer on China’s rise and his own decline
To read Han Song can feel like exploring recent history. In 2000, he wrote a novel depicting the collapse of the World Trade Center. In 2016, he imagined the world transformed into a giant hospital. Now, his thoughts have turned inward.
On social media, Han has described, in unsparing detail, the onset of his dementia and other ailments. But if human frailty is a common theme in his writing, so is something slightly more optimistic: the value of writing about it. Read our profile of Han.
| RECOMMENDATIONS |
Cook: Fresh mint and orange zest make this simple salmon recipe come to life.
