Tuesday Briefing

Gaza toll rises as Israel launches intense strikes

The death toll in Gaza, reported by the Hamas-run health ministry, rose sharply yesterday, after Israel said it had struck hundreds of targets in the territory in one of the biggest barrages of airstrikes in recent days.

The health ministry said that Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 436 people “in the past hours,” bringing the death toll to more than 5,000 since Oct. 7, when Israel began launching airstrikes in retaliation for an attack by Hamas that killed 1,400 people.

Hamas, which controls Gaza, released two additional hostages yesterday, according to the group and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Their release, which Hamas said was for “humanitarian and health reasons,” came three days after the group set free an Israeli-American mother and daughter. Israel raised the number of people kidnapped to 222, 10 more than a day earlier.

A third convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid began entering Gaza from Egypt, and aid workers began distributing relief supplies in southern Gaza, but conditions remained dire.

Related:

• U.S. officials have raised concerns that Israel lacks achievable military objectives in Gaza, and that the Israel Defense Forces are not yet ready to launch a ground invasion with a plan that can work.

• More Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in the past few weeks than in any similar period in at least the past 15 years, according to Palestinian health authorities.

• Israel said it had attacked Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. These maps show the intensifying conflict on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Germany has a new political party

Sahra Wagenknecht, one of Germany’s most prominent leftist politicians, announced that she was forming her own party, which could become another populist force scrambling German politics.

The party is named after herself: the Sahra Wagenknecht Coalition, or BSW in the German acronym, making it the first party in postwar Germany built entirely around one figurehead. Wagenknecht is a frequent presence on television debate shows and on the floor of the parliament, where she is a member of the Left party. She said that the new party would stand for “reason and fairness” and be a home for those who feel abandoned by mainstream politics.

Support: A poll taken over the weekend by Bild found that 27 percent of voters would consider voting for Wagenknecht’s party, even if little concrete information about her actual platform was available.

Background: For decades after World War II, Germany was governed by just two major parties. But Germany’s political landscape has been fracturing for a decade or more as traditional parties lose ground to populist elements.

Women in Iceland to strike for gender equality

Tens of thousands of women and nonbinary people in Iceland are expected to participate today in a one-day strike, which organizers called the country’s largest effort to protest workplace inequality in nearly five decades.

Alongside gender wage and pay parity, the protest will highlight the problem of violence against women. Organizers have urged women and nonbinary people to stop all work, including household errands and child care. Even the country’s prime minister, Katrin Jakobsdottir, said she would take part.

Context: Iceland has made big strides toward gender equality, but problems persist. Parity scores in wages and in representation among senior officials have slipped since 2021, and the numbers are now closer to 2017 levels, according to a World Economic Forum report.

THE LATEST NEWS

Around the World

• María Corina Machado, a center-right candidate in a primary election to choose a challenger to President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, appeared to be headed to victory.

• At least 17 people were killed when a passenger train and a freight train collided outside Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka.

• Iran’s state media said a girl who was dragged out of a subway car unconscious shortly after entering with her hair uncovered was pronounced brain dead. Her case has evoked similarities with that of Mahsa Amini, who died last year in the custody of the country’s morality police.

Other Big Stories

• It may be too late to halt the melting of the West Antarctic ice shelves, a study found.

• Britain wants a cheaper way to handle migrants that fits with its increasingly hostile immigration policies.

• Mexico has mounted an ambitious series of investigations to recover plundered cultural treasures.

U.S. News

• Chevron, the second-largest oil giant in the U.S., said it had agreed to acquire Hess, a medium-size rival, in a deal valued at $53 billion.

• If Donald Trump’s federal election-conspiracy trial is not broadcast live on television, one news organization has requested that it be recorded.

• New data shows that just a sliver of America’s poorest students get a high score on the SAT test.

A Morning Read

In the span of three months, the soccer superstar Lionel Messi has made Inter Miami’s eye-catching pink jersey the hottest piece of sports merchandise on the planet.

The fad is the result of a simple, capitalist equation: one of the most beloved athletes of his generation; a distinctive, exotic color; and the ruthless efficiency of textile factories in Southeast Asia.

SPORTS NEWS

23 seconds into his debut, a match-winner: Marc Guiu announced his arrival at Barcelona in style.

The restoration of Reims: The story of Will Still and the Ligue 1 club.

U.S. Grand Prix takeaways: What we learned from the race in Texas.

ARTS AND IDEAS

Baaba Maal’s Dakar

The musician Baaba Maal, whom many fans know from the soundtracks of “Black Panther” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” moved to Dakar, Senegal’s capital, to pursue a law degree. Once he arrived, he knew his life would take a different course.

“What was really, deeply strong inside me — which is to be a singer, to be a performer — came out when I got to Dakar,” he said. He gave The Times a tour of his five favorite places in the city where he found his voice.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Cook sopa de fideo, a Mexican staple that is particularly good on a chilly weeknight.

Watch the new drama “Fellow Travelers,” which follows a gay romance over several decades.

Read “America Fantastica,” a satire that follows a disgraced journalist on a criminal road trip.

Strategize by using this guide on how to win your next UNO game.

Clean yourself. Or don’t. Not everyone needs to shower every day.

Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today’s Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here.

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

P.S. The Times has an editors’ note on our coverage of the Gaza hospital explosion.

You can reach Jonathan and the team at [email protected].