A year after the attack, Israeli couple recounts trying to get to their son on Oct. 7

TEL AVIV, Israel — For Israeli husband-and-wife Noam Tibon and Gali Mir-Tibon, Oct. 7, 2023, began like any other day. They went for an early-morning swim off the Tel Aviv coast on that Saturday morning. They heard sirens but continued to swim — it was safer in the water. When they got back to their […]

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Israeli defense officials at odds with Netanyahu over Hamas, Hezbollah cease-fire conditions

TEL AVIV — Officials in Israel’s defense establishment are now strenuously contradicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that Israel maintain control of the narrow strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border known as the Philadelphi Corridor, and warning that Netanyahu’s reluctance to sign a cease-fire deal with Hamas is pushing Israel into a potentially […]

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In Rafah, an eerily quiet hellscape with tunnels under children’s bedrooms: Reporter’s notebook

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — As we bumped over the wreckage of Rafah, we poked our heads above the sides of the armored truck. And we wondered at the force used to pulverize so much concrete and mash so many buildings. After climbing down from the Israel Defense Forces vehicle in which this small group of […]

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Parents of slain Israeli-American hostage reflect on their mission: Reporter’s notebook

TEL AVIV — Editor’s note: The following contains graphic content. Reader discretion is advised. I had last interviewed Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin, the parents of an Israeli-American man taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, the morning after their speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, during which the crowd […]

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