Monday Briefing: Israel widens evacuation orders

August 12, 2024

	By Justin Porter

Good morning. We’re covering Israel again ordering civilians in Gaza to evacuate and the last day of the Paris Olympics.

Plus, making house calls for nomads.

Women and children sit in the back of a damaged truck with belongings.

Palestinians ordered to leave Khan Younis yesterday. Abdel Kareem Hana/Associated Press

Israel again ordered a humanitarian zone evacuated

In recent days, tens of thousands of people have fled the city of Khan Younis in Gaza after Israel’s military told them to evacuate. A new order issued yesterday covered the neighborhood of al-Jalaa, part of a humanitarian zone in southwestern Gaza. The Israeli military said it was planning to fight in the area because Hamas had “embedded terrorist infrastructure” there. Here’s the latest.

The order came a day after Israel gave a similar explanation — that Hamas fighters were hiding among civilians — for a strike on a school turned shelter that the local authorities said killed more than 90 people. More than 2,000 displaced people had been staying at the shelter, Gazan authorities said.

Israel has adjusted the borders of the humanitarian zone several times already — the area shrank by more than a fifth last month. Many people in Gaza say nowhere in the enclave is truly safe, and Israel has mounted attacks inside the designated humanitarian zone before. Last month, it targeted the commander of Hamas’s military wing with a strike that Gazan authorities said killed at least 90 people.

On the ground: Dr. Ahmad Yousaf, an American pediatrician who spent three weeks working in one of Gaza’s last functioning hospitals, shared a record of what he witnessed, including rare footage from inside Al Aqsa Hospital.

Two members of the United States women’s basketball team in red uniforms embrace, as others behind them clap and one in front of them raises her arms over her head, with a big smile on her face.

A’Ja Wilson, center-left, and Jackie Young, center-right, of the U.S. celebrated in Paris on Sunday. Brian Snyder/Reuters

Closing out the Paris Olympics

The U.S. won its eighth consecutive Olympic title in women’s basketball with a thrilling one-point victory over France to close the Games in Paris. France led the overwhelming favorites by 10 in the third quarter and came within centimeters of taking the game to overtime.

The victory meant that Team USA tied China atop the gold-medal standings, with 40 apiece. With all the medals having been awarded, these are our photographers’ best pictures from the Games and our favorite moments. Here’s the latest on the closing ceremony.

France came into the Games after a snap election upended its government. Its newly elected Parliament is so divided that it’s hard to see how a new governing coalition will be formed. But after pulling off an ambitious Olympics, Roger Cohen writes, the country will have new confidence.

What else happened on the final day:

Running: Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands won maybe the most dramatic and competitive Olympic marathon ever — after she won bronze in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters.
Gymnastics: Jordan Chiles will lose the bronze in the floor exercise. It will go instead to Ana Bărbosu of Romania, after a challenge that raised Chiles’ score was made seconds too late.
Medals: Here’s a full list of the final day’s winners.

🇺🇸 U.S. ELECTION 2024

The presidential election is less than 90 days away. This is what we’re watching.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, smile and gesture in front of a crowd of supporters.

Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota in Las Vegas on Saturday. Bridget Bennett for The New York Times

The Harris-Walz ticket’s first week

Since the first rally for Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota at the beginning of last week, Democrats have found themselves in a surprising place: on offense.

Harris now leads Donald Trump in a national polling average and in a few must-win battleground states, a Times/Siena College poll found.

Here are five takeaways from the first week of the Harris-Walz campaign.

Here’s what else to know:

Walz has a long relationship with China. He has taught there and has visited about 30 times. But he has also criticized Beijing’s human rights record.
The change at the top of the Democratic ticket has scrambled strategies for congressional candidates, both Democrat and Republican.
In his first interview since ending his campaign, President Biden said it was imperative for the Democratic Party to beat Trump, and accused him of being an ally of the Ku Klux Klan.
A music festival headlined by the pro-Trump musician Kid Rock offered a snapshot of a maturing American subculture: a hedonistic, beer-guzzling pursuit of happiness.

Do you have questions about the election? Send them to us and we’ll find the answers.

Stay up-to-date: Live coverage | Poll tracker | “The Run-Up” podcast | On Politics newsletter

MORE TOP NEWS

A military vehicle passing a field of sunflowers.

Ukrainian soldiers in the Sumy region yesterday. Roman Pilipey/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Ukraine: Russia appears to have stalled Kyiv’s cross-border incursion.
Haiti: A U.N.-backed international security force has calmed parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, so gangs have refocused their terror on the outskirts.
Brazil: Officials are investigating why a passenger plane crashed outside São Paulo, killing all 62 people aboard.
Venezuela: Authorities have begun “Operation Knock-Knock,” targeting anyone perceived to be challenging the autocratic president’s re-election.
Technology: Social media posts assailing immigrants have fomented a climate of fear and hatred in Britain, Portugal and other countries.
Investigation: China has moved thousands of people to new settlements on its frontiers. It calls them “border guardians.”

MORNING READ

A stone pillar with markings at an archaeological site.

Researchers say this may be the world’s oldest calendar tracking the moon and the sun. Alistair Coombs

A researcher at the University of Edinburgh believes he has found the earliest calendar of its kind at Gobekli Tepe, a site in southern Turkey that used to be an ancient complex of temple-like enclosures.

The markings on a pillar at the site, he said, may memorialize a cataclysm from 13,000 years ago.

CONVERSATION STARTERS

An economic reckoning: Garment exports performed an economic miracle in Bangladesh, but they also helped bring down Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Empty storefronts: San Francisco is among the most devastated cities in the U.S. after the pandemic. It’s hoping a free-rent period will lure back businesses.
A new media empire: Bari Weiss, the heat-seeking founder of The Free Press, has built her audience by persuading them that she is a teller of dangerous truths.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times .

ARTS AND IDEAS

A woman rides a gray horse through a scrubby field, with mountains rising in the background.

Shurentsetseg Ganbold going to visit semi-nomadic reindeer herders. Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

She makes house calls to nomads

Shurentsetseg Ganbold is a health worker in Mongolia who serves the Dukhas, a community of semi-nomadic reindeer herders who follow their animals wherever they roam. Wherever they settle for the season, Shurentsetseg has to find them, sometimes on horseback, across hours of country and forest roads, through mud and sleet.

In one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, community health workers like Shurentsetseg are the backbone of the health system. Growing up in a nomadic family, she taught herself how to ride a horse at age 5. Riding to patients calms and energizes her, and when horses aren’t available, she rides reindeer.

RECOMMENDATIONS

A loaf cake filled with blueberries and topped with white glaze. It is sliced on a dark teal tray.

Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

Bake: A slice of this berry, almond and lemon cake is perfect late in the morning, for afternoon tea or after dinner with coffee.

Travel: We talked to frequent travelers about the best ways to handle jet lag.

Watch: These five great action movies have anarchists, hostage crises and sweaty mixed martial arts fighters.

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

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Justin

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