News

In many ways, the three young men who were shot as they ambled down a sidewalk last Saturday in Burlington, Vt., were like any other longtime friends reuniting on a leisurely Thanksgiving weekend.What made them different may have also made them targets: Tahseen Ali Ahmad, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Hisham Awartani are Palestinian Americans, navigating between the peaceful privilege of college life in America and the dangerous instability of their conflict-ravaged homeland some 5,000 miles away.In an instant, one of the injured students said on Wednesday, those two worlds collapsed into one, shaking his sense of the United States as safer. In his first interview since the shooting, a day after he was discharged from the hospital, Mr. Abdalhamid said that he expects the attack to have a lasting i...

“We saw many dead bodies,” said Mazen Abu Habil, a 52-year-old father of eight, who eventually made it to Khan Younis, which has become a teeming place of refuge for displaced people. There, Gazans cram into hospitals and U.N. shelters, living in substandard conditions — chasing a meal a day, sleeping with barely any blankets, wearing the clothes they fled with.Mr. Abu Habil used to live in Jabaliya, a neighborhood north of Gaza City that Israel says is a Hamas stronghold and has been pummeling with airstrikes. He fled to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City once his house was destroyed, and then, when it was no longer safe there, to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Israel has recently produced video and photographs that it says shows Al-Shifa, a sprawling complex, conceals an underground militar...

Biden faces divisions over his support of IsraelPresident Biden is facing deep anger over his solidarity with Israel among his supporters and even from some staff members, particularly those with Arab or Muslim backgrounds, who have said they feel disenchanted with the president. And for many in the Arab community, his words and actions after the Oct. 7 attacks have left them feeling like an afterthought in the war between Israel and Hamas.Biden administration officials say the president’s support for Israel’s right to defend itself after Hamas’s deadly assault is only part of the story, and that Biden’s stance has allowed him to wield influence with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on issues like humanitarian aid and to make more forceful calls for the protection of Palestinian civilians...

Hamas released a group of 12 hostages on Tuesday, most of them Israelis or dual nationals but also including two Thai nationals, all of whom had been kidnapped during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. It was the fifth group to be released since Friday, when a temporary cease-fire between Israel and Hamas went into effect.Here’s what we know about the Israeli hostages released on Tuesday.Clara Marman, 63; Mia Leimberg, 17; Gabriela Leimberg, 59Clara Marman, Mia Leimberg and Gabriela Leimberg.Credit...Hostages and Missing Families ForumMs. Marman, 63, a member of Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, was taken hostage on Oct. 7, along with her partner, Luis Norberto Har, and three visiting family members: a brother, Fernando Marman, 60; a sister, Gabriela Leimberg, 59; and Ms. Leimberg’s 17-y...

On a cool Saturday morning, in a hotel basement in Beijing, throngs of young Chinese gathered to do what millions had done before them: dream of an American education.At a college fair organized by the United States Embassy, the students and their parents hovered over rows of booths advertising American universities. As a mascot of a bald eagle worked the crowd, they posed eagerly for photos.But beneath the festive atmosphere thrummed a note of anxiety. Did America still want Chinese students? And were Chinese students sure they wanted to go to America?“We see the negative news, so it’s better to be careful,” said Zhuang Tao, the father of a college senior considering graduate school in the United States, Australia and Britain. He had read the frequent headlines about gun violence, anti-As...

In response to the devastating Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, the group that controls the Gaza Strip, Israel imposed what it called a complete siege — cutting off almost all water, food, electricity and fuel for the more than two million Palestinians living in Gaza. It also launched thousands of airstrikes on the enclave and sent in ground forces to try to root out Hamas.A brief cease-fire, the first since the war began seven weeks ago, began to take hold on Friday, and as part of a hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas, dozens of trucks with water and other vital humanitarian aid crossed into Gaza.Still, it was far less than what typically came into the territory before the war, and there was no indication that the freer flow of aid would last beyond the four-day agreed truce.Befo...

The deal came after an Israeli offer to continue the cease-fire by one day for every additional 10 hostages released, who would be exchanged for 30 Palestinians in Israeli prisons.The Israeli hostages released on Monday were three women and eight children, all of them kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Hamas-led assault on Israel on Oct. 7, when more than 200 people were seized and taken to Gaza.They included Sharon Alony Cunio, 34, and her twin 3-year-old daughters, Emma and Yuli Cunio, three of the six members of their family who were taken hostage. David Cunio, the twins’ father and Ms. Cunio’s husband, is believed to still be in Gaza. Her sister and niece were released on Friday.The French government said three of those released on Monday were dual Israeli-French citizens. A numb...

Direct train service from Amsterdam to London on the Eurostar, the sleek, fast train that connects Britain to northwestern Europe, will be suspended for six months next year, the train company said.The closing, which will begin in June, is a result of renovations at Amsterdam Centraal Station, from which the Eurostar to London departs. Because of the work, the terminal that passengers use to go through security and passport control in Amsterdam won’t be accessible, Carola Belderbos, a spokeswoman for the Dutch national railway company, said.The terminal accommodates about 250 people. A larger terminal for Eurostar passengers, one that will hold nearly twice as many, is being built in a different part of the station, but it is not expected to be ready until January 2025, Ms. Belderbos said....

Here’s what we know about the Israeli citizens released on Sunday.Avigail Idan, 4Avigail IdanCredit...Hostages and Missing Families ForumAvigail’s parents, Roy Idan, 43, and Smadar Idan, 38, were killed in Kfar Aza during the Oct. 7 attack. Her two siblings Michael, 9, and Amelia, 6, both survived.Avigail, who is a dual Israeli and U.S. citizen, turned 4 years old while in captivity. Her name has also been spelled “Abigail” in the U.S. media. President Biden has discussed Avigail in his public remarks and expressed particular gratitude for her release when he spoke to reporters on Sunday before leaving for Washington from Nantucket, Mass., where he marked the Thanksgiving holiday.Avigail’s uncle and aunt, Amit and Tal Idan, have been taking care of her siblings since the attack.On the morn...

The NewsThe union representing teachers, counselors and other school employees in Portland, Ore., reached a tentative deal with the city's public school district on Sunday, ending a strike that has kept nearly 45,000 students out of classes for more than three weeks in Oregon’s largest district.Background: The fight was over pay, class sizes and moreThe union, which represents about 3,700 teachers and other school employees, and the district were at odds over pay, class sizes and the amount of time that teachers get to plan, among other issues.The tentative deal includes a 6.25 percent raise for employees in the first year of the contract, followed by 4.5 percent and 3 percent raises in subsequent years, the union announced. That is about in the middle of what the district had offered and ...