International Glance
NORTHERN GAZA STRIP — It is utterly quiet in a place once known as one of the most densely populated in the world.
The Israeli military took me and a small group of other international journalists inside Gaza on Wednesday, nearly one month into the ceasefire.
It was the first time I had entered Gaza after two years of war.
We stood at the edge of an Israeli military outpost, looking out at what used to be the bustling Shujaiya neighborhood outside Gaza City.
It was the scene of fierce fighting during the war. Now it is a wasteland of destruction.
The tall high-rise buildings not demolished in Gaza City are seen in the far distance. Around them is a vast monochrome expanse as far as the eye can see.
Piles of concrete that used to be homes. Skeletons of schools. Concrete beams standing in the dirt like tall tombstones.
For years before the war, I would enter Gaza every few months, to report for NPR. I remember driving through the Shujaiyeh neighborhood on my way to the center of Gaza City.
Now it is unrecognizable.
Ukraine could be facing its biggest loss for months, if the key eastern city of Pokrovsk falls to Russian forces. The battle for this strategic point on a big road and rail artery in the Donetsk region has been going on for well over a year.
Donald Trump said Friday that no US government officials would be attending the Group of 20 summit this year in South Africa, citing the country’s treatment of white farmers.
Israel, having banned the United Nations aid agency for Palestinian refugees from sending aid and staff to Gaza, is now taking unprecedented steps to de-register major nongovernmental aid groups for ideological reasons, according to several officials of humanitarian organizations.
The Israel Defense Forces are investigating reports Israeli troops who were occupying a key sewage treatment plant in Gaza set it ablaze amid a drawdown of their forces from much of the enclave's territory last week as a part of the first phase of the ceasefire deal.
