Monday Briefing: A year of war

Plus, Trump's rambling speeches revive the age question

View in browser|nytimes.com October 7, 2024 By Jonathan Wolfe and Gaya Gupta Good morning. We're covering a year of war in the Middle East and concerns about Donald Trump's age. Plus: A sensational end to Paris Fashion Week. A vigil in Tel Aviv yesterday. Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times A year of war, with no end in sight It has been a year since the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel led by Hamas, in which officials say 1,200 people were killed and about 250 others kidnapped. Israel's response — airstrikes and a ground invasion of Gaza — has led to the deaths of more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. The fighting has expanded to three fronts, and there is no clear path to a cease-fire. We asked Isabel Kershner, who has covered Israeli and Palestinian affairs for decades and is based in Jerusalem, to reflect on the past year of war. You wrote yesterday about fear overtaking memorial preparations in Israel. Can you describe the mood over the past few days? The mood in Israel in the run-up to the one-year mark is grim, to say the least. Instead of some sense of closure, the expanding war augurs more difficult days ahead. Reflecting on the past year, what do you recall? Soon after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel, a seasoned colonel in the military reserves told me that Israel's counteroffensive against Hamas in Gaza, a narrow coastal strip, would take at least a year, or two, or three. At the time, I found that hard to believe. A year on, that long war has broadened and intensified on several other fronts, with no end in sight — only a bottomless pit of suffering. Any distraction in life or work feels frivolous or inappropriate. In a region engulfed in so much grief, loss and yearning, there is no room for celebrations. Birthdays are marked, religious festivals observed. Any personal pain is relative, always measured against the vast scale of the anguish of others. What have you learned over the past year of reporting on this conflict? War tests a society's limits. I have learned of the resilience of ordinary people, such as the relatives of hostages who were taken to Gaza. Parents, siblings and partners whose lives were upended in a moment and who have since crisscrossed the globe to meet with world leaders and tirelessly protested at home to advocate for their loved ones. And civilians in Gaza who by now have spent a wet winter, a burning hot summer and another fall in tents, displaced over and again. I have also learned of the paucity of empathy for the other, on either side, at wartime. The latest news: Israel intensified its operations against Hamas in Gaza and targeted Hezbollah with more airstrikes in Lebanon. Strikes in Gaza hit a mosque and a school being used as a shelter, killing 26 Palestinians, according to local health officials. A new Israeli map labels nearly all of northern Gaza as "new evacuation zones." Emmanuel Macron, France's president, called on countries to stop shipping weapons to Israel for use in Gaza. Donald Trump spoke on Saturday in Butler, Pa., where a gunman tried to kill him in July. Doug Mills/The New York Times Trump's rambling speeches revive the age question Donald Trump, now 78, will be the oldest president ever if he wins and finishes another term. His speeches have always been discursive and often untethered to truth. But with the passage of time, his public remarks have grown darker, longer, angrier and less focused, according to a Times review. Earlier this month, Trump said the crowd watching his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris had been on his side. But there was no audience. It was hardly the first time Trump had seemed confused, forgetful, incoherent or disconnected from reality lately. Details: According to a Times computer analysis, Trump's rally speeches are now nearly twice as long as they were in 2016. He also uses more all-or-nothing terms like "always" and "never" than he did eight years ago, which some experts see as a sign of advancing age. More on the U.S. election Americans head to the polls in less than five weeks. Trump returned to Butler, Pa., for a massive rally at the fairgrounds where he was struck in July by a would-be assassin's bullet. Harris dismissed criticism from some Republicans that she does not have biological children, saying in a podcast interview that much of the commentary was "meanspirited." One polling decision has led to two stories of the election: Is it more like 2020 or 2022? Do you have questions about the election? Send them to us, and we'll find the answers. Sue Gray said intense media scrutiny of her role meant she "risked becoming a distraction" to the new Labour government. Pool photo by Leon Neal The U.K. prime minister's chief of staff resigned Sue Gray, the chief of staff to Britain's prime minister, Keir Starmer, resigned abruptly yesterday. The move comes after weeks of speculation about government turf wars, a media storm over her pay and questions over responsibility for a series of political errors. Her successor will be Morgan McSweeney, who masterminded the Labour Party's successful election campaign this summer. The change ends a turbulent period of several months during which Gray and McSweeney maintained two centers of power. Gray's departure also heralded a wider shake-up at Downing Street. MORE TOP NEWS Soldiers in the Donbas region of Ukraine this week. Nicole Tung for The New York Times Ukraine: In the Donbas region, soldiers are using rope-a-dope tactics, letting Russian forces pound away until they have exhausted themselves. Whether the strategy will succeed is far from clear. Pakistan: The government banned an ethnic Pashtun rights movement that has long criticized the country's powerful military. Rwanda: Eighty percent of those infected in the country's deadly Marburg virus outbreak are health care workers. Climate: A punishing drought is drying up stretches of the Amazon River, and Brazil is resorting to dredging to try to keep traffic flowing along the watery superhighway. Tunisia: President Kais Saied, the country's autocratic leader, is almost certain to win re-election. His leading challenger is in prison. France: Gisèle Pelicot fought for graphic videos to be shown in the rape trial of her husband and 50 other men. On Friday, a dozen videos and about 10 photos were shown. The Vatican: Pope Francis named 21 new cardinals in line with his vision of a more global, less Eurocentric church. SPORTS NEWS Soccer: A ruling from the E.U.'s highest court could end the transfer system. Formula 1: Chloe Chambers, who was born in Guangdong, China, and adopted by a family in Texas, is thriving in F1 Academy. Tennis: In China, men's tennis has languished behind the women's game, but some men are on the verge of a breakout. MORNING READ Thea Traff for The New York Times Lore Segal has produced an unparalleled run of wise, funny New Yorker short stories and five groundbreaking novels, one of which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. At 96, she is approaching death with the same startling powers of perception she brought to her fiction. Lives lived: Peter Jay, a British journalist, broadcaster and diplomat whose tenure as ambassador to the U.S. began and ended in controversy, died at 87. CONVERSATION STARTERS The flop era returns: Plenty of movies bomb, but Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis" is part of a different class of box office failures. My sexiest, sexless year: In Opinion, a writer says that a year without sex was the most erotic of her life. Paris Hilton's budget line: The heiress has become an unlikely fixture at Walmart. ARTS AND IDEAS Julien De Rosa/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Paris Fashion Week's closing fantasia On the final night of Paris Fashion Week, everyone went to Disneyland. In a scenario that bordered on hallucinatory, the French brand Coperni lured more than 500 people to its spring 2025 runway show at Disneyland Paris. The Sleeping Beauty Castle, in the heart of the park's Fantasyland, served as the backdrop for a procession of Disney-inspired looks that paid homage to youthful parkgoers, villains and transformative princesses. Even by the most extravagant of fashion show standards, the production stretched the limits. Take a look. We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. RECOMMENDATIONS Armando Rafael for The New York Times Cook: Crispy tempeh glazed in a spicy-and-sweet soy sauce can anchor many a dinner. Read: Our crime columnist reviews four new novels. Listen: Check out these 10 unforgettable covers by Kris Kristofferson. Protect: Wirecutter recommends these password managers. 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 and Gaya Reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Morning Briefing: Europe Edition from The New York Times. To stop receiving Morning Briefing: Europe Edition, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018