The New York Times - Tuesday Briefing: Netanyahu visits Gaza

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December 26, 2023

By Amelia Nierenberg Writer, Briefings

Good morning. We’re covering Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to Gaza and Aleksei Navalny’s transfer to a remote prison.

Plus, Mongolian circus performers.

The aftermath of an overnight attack in the Al Maghazi neighborhood in Gaza yesterday. Mahmud Hams/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Netanyahu visits troops in Gaza

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel visited Israeli troops fighting in Gaza yesterday. His visit came after Gazan health officials said that an overnight strike on a crowded neighborhood had killed dozens of people.

Netanyahu said that Israel would “deepen” the fighting, despite the death toll — which Gaza Health Ministry officials say stands at about 20,000 people — and mounting pressure from the U.S. to lower the intensity of the war.

“We’re not stopping,” he said. “This will be a long battle, and it is not close to ending.”

The strike hit Al Maghazi, a neighborhood where many newly displaced Gazans had sought shelter. Gazan health officials initially said 70 people had died, with many others still unaccounted for. Photos showed people who appeared to be digging through rubble without the help of any heavy equipment.

“These rockets, it’s like they’re made to destroy mountains, not people,” said Mohamed Abu Shaah, who had taken shelter in Al Maghazi with his wife and seven daughters.

Responsibility: Gazan health officials blamed Israel for the deaths. Israel’s military said it was reviewing what happened.

Pope Francis: In his Christmas address, he pleaded for an “end to the military operations with their appalling harvest of innocent civilian victims.” He also called for aid to ease the desperate humanitarian crisis on the ground.

Allies: As the U.S. becomes an increasingly lonely protector of Israel, it’s finding itself at odds with even staunch allies like France, Canada, Australia and Japan.

Aleksei Navalny during a court hearing in Russia in 2022. Yulia Morozova/Reuters

Navalny found in a remote prison

Aleksei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, has been found: He was moved to an Arctic prison but “is doing well,” his spokeswoman said yesterday.

The news ends a 20-day mystery over his whereabouts. Navalny’s supporters, fearing the worst, had conducted an exhaustive, frantic search of Russia’s prison system after he disappeared.

Background: The prison, known as IK-3 Polar Wolf, is among the harshest and most remote in Russia. Inmates endure long, dark, cold winters and clouds of mosquitoes in the summer.

Analysis: Navalny was last held only about 160 miles east of Moscow, meaning that his lawyers could reach him in a matter of hours. A supporter said that the new prison — which is a 44-hour train trip from Moscow — is an attempt to isolate Navalny ahead of the next presidential race.

Updates from the war in Ukraine:

President Vladimir Putin is quietly signaling that he is open to a cease-fire, according to former senior Russian officials and international officials who have received the message from Putin’s envoys.

The Ukrainian military said yesterday that it had shot down five Russian fighter jets in three days, one of the biggest weekly losses for the Russian air force since the war began.

A protest on Saturday in Srinagar, Kashmir, after the deaths of three civilians. Mukhtar Khan/Associated Press

Civilian deaths provoke anger in Kashmir

Kashmiris are calling for an investigation into three civilians who were found dead on Friday.

They were part of a group detained by Indian soldiers for questioning in connection with an ambush by Kashmiri separatist militants on Thursday. Witnesses claimed that the bodies of the civilians showed signs of torture. Later, a video that purported to show the torture of the detained civilians spread online, fueling widespread anger.

Context: The ambush against the Indian troops on Thursday — which left four soldiers dead and three others injured — was the latest in a campaign of violence by militants resisting Indian rule in Kashmir.

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A Morning Read

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Mongolia produces some of the most coveted circus performers in the world for marquee names like Cirque du Soleil. But they train in squalid conditions: There are few places to practice and little government support.

“We are wanted all over the world, but we can’t even properly train in our own country,” a circus director said.

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A poster for the film “Kaathal,” which was a commercial and critical success. Priyadarshini Ravichandran for The New York Times

A subtler style on India’s big screens

Indian cinema is often equated with the glamour and glitz of Bollywood. But in a nation of 1.4 billion, regional film industries are as distinct as their languages. Take the southern state of Kerala, which is home to Malayalam-language cinema. Audiences there are increasingly turning out for more nuanced and human-driven stories — like the recent hit “Kaathal,” about a closeted gay politician.

The result has been commercial success for the kind of low-key films that are seen elsewhere as experimental, more often than not relegated to festival circuits or sent straight to streaming platforms.

Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.

Cook: An easy French toast.

Watch: An opera from the comfort of your home.

Improve: These are the five big health lessons we learned in 2023.

Style: Our fashion critic unpacks what it means to “dress your age.”

Play Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. See you tomorrow. — Amelia

P.S. Think of Boxing Day as a “holiday from the holidays.” Happy resting, if you’re observing.

We welcome your feedback. Send us your suggestions at briefing@nytimes.com.

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