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is an investigative reporter at The Times, writing about public corruption. He has been covering the various criminal investigations into former President Trump and his allies.

Persons: Trump Organizations: The Times

☆ Palestinian Authority’s Government Submits Resignation as U.S. Calls for Change
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | More About Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh of the Palestinian Authority, the body that administers part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, tendered the resignation of his cabinet on Monday, according to the authority’s official news agency. But it was unclear whether the appointment of a new prime minister and cabinet would be enough to revamp the authority or persuade Israel to let it govern Gaza. Israeli leaders had strongly hinted that they would not allow the authority’s existing leadership to run Gaza. With no functional parliament within the areas controlled by the authority, Mr. Abbas has long ruled by decree, and he exerts wide influence over the judiciary and prosecution system. According to diplomats briefed on his thinking, Mr. Abbas’s preferred candidate for prime minister is Mohammad Mustafa, a longtime economic adviser who is considered a member of his inner circle.

Persons: Mohammad Shtayyeh, Israel, Mahmoud Abbas, Shtayyeh’s, Abbas, Abbas’s, Mohammad Mustafa Organizations: Palestinian Authority, West Bank Locations: United States, Saudi Arabia, Gaza, Israel

☆ Amid Food Shortages, People in Gaza Are Ambushing Aid Convoys
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | More About Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Amid widespread food shortages and a breakdown in civil order, groups of desperate civilians in Gaza are regularly attempting to ambush aid convoys, according to two Western officials who were recently in the enclave and images of one such ambush reviewed by The New York Times. The trucks are briefly forced off the road as the drivers swerve to avoid hitting the men. Some of the assailants throw stones at the trucks’ windshields, seemingly to try to stop them. The images, with time stamps indicating they were taken in recent days, were reviewed by a reporter for The Times. Such attacks have become common since Israel’s invasion last year as desperate civilians face starvation in pockets of the enclave, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid complicating their work in Gaza.

Organizations: The New York Times, The Times Locations: Gaza, Egypt

More than a fifth of the remaining hostages being held in Gaza are dead, according to an internal assessment conducted by the Israeli military. The families of the 32 hostages whose deaths are confirmed have been informed, according to four military officials who spoke anonymously in order to discuss a sensitive matter. The four officials said that officers were also assessing unconfirmed intelligence that indicated that at least 20 other hostages may have also been killed. The figure of 32 is higher than any previous number the Israeli authorities have publicly disclosed of hostages who are dead. In an answer to a request for comment, the Israeli military said that most of the dead were killed on Oct. 7.

Organizations: Hamas, The New York Times Locations: Gaza

Hamas officials say they will only release the remaining hostages in Gaza, believed to number more than 100, as part of a comprehensive cease-fire. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said on Sunday that he would not accept any deal for a permanent cease-fire that left Hamas in control of Gaza. Israeli officials have suggested they might consider a permanent cease-fire if Hamas’s Gaza leadership leave the strip and go into exile, the two diplomats said. Hamas officials have rejected that idea. “Hamas and its leaders are on their land in Gaza,” Husam Badran, a senior Hamas official, said in a text message.

Persons: William J, Burns, Brett McGurk, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s, Husam, Netanyahu, “, Mahmoud Abbas, Abbas Organizations: Qatari, White, Gaza, Hamas, Biden, Palestinian Authority, West Bank, Fatah Locations: Gaza, Europe, Israel, Qatar, Egypt, Western, U.S, Palestinian

Israel’s military leadership faced heightened public scrutiny this week after a string of damaging revelations in the Israeli media and The New York Times suggested that senior officers had ignored or dismissed intelligence reports about the likelihood of a major Hamas attack. A commander also dismissed a subordinate’s warning in July that the group was running drills and building the capacity to set the plan in motion. The news raised expectations among political commentators that, after the war ends, senior military and security chiefs will either resign or be fired over the intelligence failures. While the war is still going, many Israelis are also focused on maintaining a united front against Hamas. A survey conducted in mid-October found that 87 percent of Jewish Israelis interviewed said they trusted the Israeli military, slightly higher than in June.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, “, ”, Ayelet Samerano, Yonatan, Eran Etzion, Etzion, Don’t Organizations: New York Times, Hamas, The Times Locations: Israel, Gaza

A weeklong cease-fire in the Gaza Strip collapsed on Friday morning, with Israel and Hamas blaming each other for the breakdown of a truce that had allowed for the exchange of hundreds of hostages and prisoners, and that had briefly raised hopes for a more lasting halt to the fighting. The Israeli military said it had launched 200 strikes since the resumption of fighting, some of which the country’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, witnessed from a seat in an Israeli attack helicopter flying over Gaza. “This morning we returned to hitting Hamas with full force,” he wrote on the social media platform X. “The results are impressive.”“Hamas only understands force,” he added. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a statement that Israel was “committed to achieving the war aims — freeing our hostages, eliminating Hamas and ensuring that Gaza will never again pose a threat to the residents of Israel.” For days, he and other Israeli leaders had sought to quash any notion of extending the truce indefinitely, despite growing international pressure, stating repeatedly that even if the pause continued for a few more days, Israel’s offensive would resume.

Persons: Yoav Gallant, ”, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, “ Locations: Gaza, Israel

☆ A Gaza Truce Aids Both Sides. Until the Calculus Changes.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | More About Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The decision by Israel and Hamas to extend their brief truce has created short-term benefits for both sides but amplified uncertainty about how, when and whether Israel will continue its invasion of the Gaza Strip. From the outside world, Israeli leaders will face calls to make cease-fire permanent. Within their own country, however, there will be competing demands that they resume fighting and crush Hamas, while also securing the release of Israeli hostages. On Tuesday, both Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the truce. Hamas said its fighters had engaged in a “field clash” provoked by Israel, without offering additional details.

Persons: Israel Locations: Israel, Gaza

Hamas freed two dozen hostages held in Gaza and Israel released nearly 40 imprisoned Palestinians on Friday, completing the first exchange in a tense, temporary truce that halted the fighting after seven weeks of war. All the hostages freed by Hamas were expected to be swiftly moved to Israel to receive urgent medical care. Israel has said that it would extend the cease-fire by a day for every 10 additional hostages that Hamas releases. Hamas has not commented directly on the offer but its top political official, Ismail Haniyeh, said his group was committed to making the truce work. But it would also allow both Israel and Hamas to try to better their positions for battles to come.

Persons: Thais, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Ismail Haniyeh, President Biden Organizations: International Committee, Ministry, Hamas, Gaza, West Bank Locations: Gaza, Israel, Egypt, Qatar, United States

After nearly seven weeks in captivity, 13 hostages abducted by Hamas and other groups during the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel were released on Friday as part of a deal that paused the fighting in the Gaza Strip. The 13 — all women and children — were returned to Israel. Five other hostages had been released or rescued earlier in the fighting. Twelve of those newly released were among the roughly 75 people who had been kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7. Here’s what we know about the Israelis released on Friday.

Persons: —, Kibbutz Nir Oz Organizations: Nirim Locations: Israel, Gaza

The Israeli decision on Wednesday to pause the invasion of Gaza to allow Hamas to release some hostages, a move now strongly supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was the culmination of a weekslong dispute among Israel’s civilian and military leaders about whether such a deal would strengthen Hamas and endanger the remaining hostages. The first group initially took the upper hand, persuading Mr. Netanyahu to delay a cabinet vote originally planned for Nov. 14, according to three of the officials. They hoped that more military pressure might give Israel more influence at the negotiating table, allowing more hostages to be freed. But the second group eventually won out, leading Mr. Netanyahu to hold the vote early Wednesday, setting the stage for a four-day truce and prisoner exchange that could begin this week. Mr. Netanyahu’s office, the Israeli military and the Mossad all declined to comment.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, David Barnea, Mr, Netanyahu Locations: Gaza, Israel

☆ What We Know About the Hostage Negotiations Between Israel and Hamas
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | More About Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

As Israel and Hamas engage in indirect negotiations over the release of some 240 hostages taken in the armed group’s attacks on Oct. 7, the outlines of a possible deal are taking shape, officials say, although stumbling blocks remain. Here’s what we know about the status of the negotiations:Talks are coalescing around a brief pause in fighting. During the pause, hostages would be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners. What Hamas wants: Hamas has said it is seeking a full cease-fire and the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Israel has allowed some fuel into Gaza in recent days for United Nations relief operations, but has opposed more shipments because it argues they could be diverted by Hamas for military use.

Persons: Biden’s, Jon, there’s, Israel Organizations: United Nations Locations: Israel, Qatar, Gaza

☆ For Years, Two Men Shuttled Messages Between Israel and Hamas. No Longer.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | More About Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

After arriving in Israel, Mr. Baskin worked as a community organizer in an Arab village. As a Hamas loyalist, Mr. Hamad wanted to exchange Mr. Shalit for hundreds of Palestinians jailed by Israel. Though Mr. Hamad never said so publicly, Mr. Baskin also believed that Mr. Hamad privately hoped to help Mr. Shalit, a 19-year-old conscript. More generally, Mr. Baskin believed that Mr. Hamad secretly sought a peace deal with Israel. “Gershon, u r good friend,” Mr. Hamad said during another round of violence, in a text that Mr. Baskin printed in his book.

Persons: Baskin, Hamad, Israel, Mr, ”, “ I’m, ” Mr, Shalit, “, Ghazi, “ Gershon Organizations: New York University, Mr, Israel Locations: New York, Eastern, Israel, Gaza, Sudan, Egypt

Colonel Tsury acknowledged the pressure on Israel to show evidence of Hamas activity at the hospital, but said it might be days before troops descended into the shaft. Another military official said Israeli troops had captured and interrogated a Hamas operative at the hospital, but offered no further detail. Israel has the backing of the Biden administration in its assertion that Hamas is operating under the Al-Shifa complex. At the same time, the Biden administration has cautioned Israel not to conduct airstrikes against Gaza’s hospitals, where thousands of Palestinians continue to take refuge. Amid pressure from European allies and a resolution by the U.N. Security Council calling for greater aid to civilians in Gaza, Israel on Friday agreed to permit two tankers of fuel to enter the Gaza Strip on a daily basis.

Persons: Tsury, Biden, Israel, Tzachi, Mr, Hanegbi, —, Abeer, ” Organizations: Shifa, Senior U.S, . Security, United Nations, Food, “ Locations: Al, Israel, Gaza

When a group of international journalists arrived at the southern fringe of Gaza City early Friday morning, riding in the back of an Israeli army jeep, we struggled to orientate ourselves amid the ruins, the wreckage and the darkness. House after house was missing a wall or a roof, or both. Many had simply been flattened, their concrete floors lying atop each other like a pack of playing cards. Trying to situate myself after reaching Gaza City, I asked a senior Israeli commander where we were in relation to a fishing port where I usually stayed during visits to Gaza before the war. I could not find the fish market.

Locations: Gaza City, Israel, Israeli, Gaza

The three proposed tranches of semiautomatic and automatic rifles are valued at $34 million and are being ordered directly from American gunmakers, but they require State Department approval and congressional notification. U.S. officials attributed that to the encouragement of settlers by the far-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and statements by some Israeli officials supporting the annexation of the West Bank. Since Oct. 7, more than 150 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank — nearly equal to the number in all of 2022, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Settler intimidation of Palestinians, leading to their displacement from strategic areas of the West Bank, makes any prospect of that much more difficult. State Department officials who oversee weapons sales have discussed potential concerns with Israeli counterparts.

Persons: Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr, ”, Antony J, Blinken, Mahmoud Abbas, “, Jessica Lewis Organizations: State Department, West Bank, Department, New York Times, The State Department, West Bank —, Palestinian Health Ministry, Palestinian Authority, The Times, Israeli National Police Locations: United States, U.S, American, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Sunday, Israel, I.N.P

When Israeli ground forces advanced en masse into the Gaza Strip on Friday evening, just after the Jewish Sabbath began, they did it so secretly that it was hours before the outside world understood what had happened. In the three days since the long-anticipated invasion began, Israel’s military has operated with a similar ambiguity, defying expectations by carrying out a more incremental ground operation than was initially anticipated. While it has continued to decimate Gaza and its people with aerial bombardments, much of the ground force appears to have hung back from Gaza City, Hamas’s stronghold in northern Gaza, and stayed instead in the countryside on the city’s fringes. Under U.S. pressure to temper their response to the Hamas killing of more than 1,400 people on Israeli soil, Israel has even avoided describing the operation as an invasion. The loss of life, though, in Gaza continues to rise, with the Palestinian death toll so far over 8,000, according to Hamas officials.

Persons: ”, Andreas Krieg Organizations: U.S, King’s College, London Locations: Gaza, Gaza City, Hamas’s, Israel

The shock of the attack has shaken Israelis’ sense of invincibility and raised doubts and debate about how their country should best respond. Immediately afterward, the government called up around 360,000 reservists and deployed many of them at the border with Gaza. Senior officials soon spoke of removing Hamas from power in the enclave, raising expectations of an imminent ground operation there. When asked what the military objectives of the operation are, an Israeli military spokesman said the goal was to “dismantle Hamas.” How would the army know it had achieved that goal? The Israeli government wants to allow more time for those talks to make headway, perhaps to secure the release of captured women and children.

Persons: Netanyahu, Richard Hecht Organizations: United Locations: Israel, Gaza, United States, Qatar

☆ Israel’s Strikes on Gaza Are Some of the Most Intense This Century
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | More About Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Since Oct. 7, Israel has said it has targeted scores of Palestinian rocket launchers, command centers and munitions factories. Even as Israel has used precision weapons, it has maintained a broad definition of what constitutes a military target. Fighter jets wrecked the Islamic University in Gaza because Israel said the campus had been used to train intelligence operatives. And they have targeted Hamas commanders in their homes. On Wednesday, it said its forces had assassinated a senior Hamas commander in southern Gaza, and eliminated a Hamas squad that emerged from a tunnel in the north of the enclave.

Persons: Dr, Yousef Al Organizations: Islamic University, European Union, Gaza, Hamas Locations: Israel, Gaza, United States, Akkad

Within an hour of the blast on Tuesday night, the Hamas-run Gazan health ministry accused Israel of attacking the Ahli Arab hospital, a medical center in Gaza City where scores of families had been sheltering. The claim was widely cited by international news outlets, including The New York Times, before Israel issued its denial. Raising further questions about Hamas’s claims, the impact site turned out to be the hospital parking lot, and not the hospital itself. On Sunday, Hamas turned down requests by The Times to view any available evidence of the munition it said had struck the hospital, claiming that it had disintegrated beyond recognition. “The missile has dissolved like salt in the water,” said Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, in a phone interview.

Persons: Israel, ”, Ghazi Hamad, ” Salama Maroof, “ Organizations: The New York Times, Hamas, Sunday, The Times Locations: Israel, Gaza City, Ahli

Israel Ziv, a former general, reached a nearby battle in his Audi. “We are brought up to run as fast as possible toward the fire,” said General Goldfus. The camera mounted on the Hamas commander’s head captured the moment he was shot and killed. By the time the video stops, the commander can be seen slumped on the ground, revealing his long beard and thinning hairline. In other parts of southern Israel, the first formal reinforcements came from an Israeli commando unit that arrived in helicopters, according to the senior Israeli officer.

Persons: Israel Ziv, Yair Golan, ”, Goldfus Organizations: Audi, Hamas Locations: Gaza, Israel

☆ Once Inconceivable, Officials’ Visits Highlight Warming Saudi-Israeli Ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | More About Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Parallel visits this week by an Israeli minister to Saudi Arabia and a Saudi envoy to the Israeli-occupied West Bank have highlighted the fast-warming ties between the Jewish state and the most powerful Arab country. In the first-ever public visit by an Israeli minister to the Arab kingdom, Haim Katz, the Israeli tourism minister, attended a multilateral tourism conference in Riyadh on Tuesday and Wednesday that was organized by the United Nations. Simultaneously, the Saudi ambassador to the Palestinians, Naif al-Sudairi, traveled through an Israeli border checkpoint to visit the West Bank, where he met with the leaders of the Palestinian Authority, the organization that administers just under 40 percent of the Israeli-controlled territory. Experts said the visit by Mr. Sudairi, who is based in neighboring Jordan, was the first known visit by a Saudi official to the region since Israel captured it from Jordan in the 1967 war between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Persons: Haim Katz, Naif, Sudairi Organizations: Bank, United Nations, West Bank, Palestinian Authority, Saudi Locations: Saudi Arabia, Saudi, Riyadh, Jordan, Israel

☆ A Visit to the U.S. Revives an Embattled Netanyahu
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | More About Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, landed in the United States on Monday an embattled man, dogged by months of mass protests against his efforts to reduce the power of Israel’s Supreme Court. He leaves on Saturday revitalized and potentially emboldened. Through six days of high-level meetings with world leaders and tech entrepreneurs, analysts said Mr. Netanyahu improved his strained relationship with President Biden and polished his reputation as a heavyweight player on the global state. And he nudged criticism of his judicial overhaul into the background as a landmark diplomatic deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia appeared to gain momentum. On Friday, he capped his week with an address to the U.N. General Assembly, saying that a deal with Saudi Arabia would “truly create a new Middle East.”

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Biden, ” Organizations: General Assembly Locations: United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia

To secure the deal, Israel will need to make some concessions to the Palestinians, such as ceding them more land in the West Bank. But senior members of Mr. Netanyahu’s government — the most ultranationalist in Israeli history — are strongly opposed to such gestures, making it harder to forge a deal. Mr. Biden used the meeting to press the prime minister to do more to support the normalization process, White House officials said. But administration officials have said they recognize that Mr. Netanyahu operates within the constraints of his governing coalition, which includes ultranationalist members who oppose giving more sovereignty to the Palestinians. A senior Israeli official said that Mr. Netanyahu told Mr. Biden that the Palestinians should be included in the deal, but not given the right to veto it.

Persons: Biden, Mr, Netanyahu, “, ” Organizations: West Bank, White, Biden Locations: Israel

☆ Benjamin Netanyahu and Elon Musk Meet, as Both Seek to Deflect Criticism
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Patrick Kingsley | More About Patrick Kingsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Elon Musk, the owner of X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter, have both faced intense scrutiny and criticism for most of the year. Mr. Netanyahu has been the target of a nine-month wave of mass protests against his deeply contentious effort to reduce the power of Israel’s Supreme Court. Mr. Musk has been accused, among other things, of tolerating and even encouraging a surge of antisemitic abuse on X. On Monday morning, the two men sought to find a respite from those furors — in each other’s company. Mr. Netanyahu, beginning a weeklong trip to the United States, took a 15-hour overnight flight to California, where the men met at the headquarters of Tesla, Mr. Musk’s electric car company, and broadcast an unusual, hourlong conversation live on X that allowed them to deflect from their respective crises.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Elon Musk, Netanyahu, Musk Organizations: Tesla Locations: United States, California

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