Hamas-run Gaza’s civil defense agency reported the discovery of around 60 bodies following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from parts of Gaza City on Friday, amid intense ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory.
International mediators continue their efforts to end the war, now in its 10th month. At a NATO summit in Washington on Thursday, US President Joe Biden mentioned progress toward a ceasefire, emphasizing the urgency of ending the conflict.
The bodies were found in the Tal al-Hawa and Al-Sinaa districts, according to the civil defense agency. Israeli forces had entered these neighborhoods earlier in the week, having ordered civilian evacuations on Monday.
“There are still missing people under the rubble of destroyed homes, which is difficult for our crews to reach,” said agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal.
Both residents and the agency noted the Israeli troops’ withdrawal after days of clashes with Hamas militants, though this was not immediately confirmed by Israel.
Humanitarian Crisis
Gaza’s health ministry previously reported 32 deaths, primarily children and women, from overnight attacks. Media associated with Hamas, the ruling entity in Gaza whose October 7 attack initiated the conflict, claimed Israeli forces had conducted over 70 new airstrikes.
The Israeli military stated that it was also engaged in combat in the southern Rafah area, eliminating numerous terrorists through both ground and aerial strikes.
However, the main conflict zone has been Gaza City, where two weeks of fighting have devastated the eastern Shujaiya district. The Israeli army dropped thousands of leaflets on Wednesday, urging residents to flee what was described as a “dangerous combat zone.” The United Nations reported that up to 350,000 people were sheltering in this area.
Displacement and Desperation
Among the newly displaced was Umm Ihab Arafat, who, sitting with her children amidst the rubble, described the horror and fear they have endured. “I have been displaced four times,” she said, pleading for respite for her and her children.
The International Committee of the Red Cross highlighted the severe humanitarian situation, noting that entire families are trapped and desperately seeking security. The massive needs surpass the organization’s capacity to respond. Gaza City residents have been instructed to move south, to already overcrowded and conflict-ridden areas lacking essential services.
Truce Efforts
Israel and Hamas have engaged in indirect talks through Qatari, US, and Egyptian mediators to reach a truce and negotiate the release of hostages. Israeli officials met with US and Qatari mediators in Doha on Wednesday to discuss ceasefire conditions.
Ronen Bar, head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency, was set to hold talks in Cairo, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. Netanyahu reiterated that any agreement must enable Israel to achieve its war objectives, including dismantling Hamas and securing the release of hostages. He also emphasized the necessity of maintaining control over Gaza’s southern border to prevent arms smuggling to Hamas.
President Biden outlined an Israeli plan for a six-week truce, during which hostages held in Gaza would be exchanged for Palestinians in Israeli prisons, followed by negotiations for a complete end to the war. While acknowledging the complexity of the issues, Biden remained optimistic about the progress being made.
Biden also maintained his decision to withhold delivery of powerful 2,000-pound bombs to Israel due to concerns about their use in populated areas, despite approving the shipment of less powerful 500-pound munitions. He emphasized the need for Israel to develop a “day-after” plan for Gaza and discussed diplomatic efforts to engage Arab states in security arrangements.
Hamas has proposed an independent and non-partisan government for post-war Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to Hossam Badran, a member of the group’s political bureau.
Aid Challenges
The conflict began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, which resulted in 1,195 deaths, mostly civilians. The militants also captured 251 hostages, with 116 still in Gaza, including 42 believed to be dead, according to the Israeli military.
In response, Israel launched a military offensive that has claimed the lives of at least 38,345 people in Gaza, predominantly civilians, as reported by Gaza’s health ministry.
The World Health Organization stated that only five trucks carrying medical supplies were allowed into Gaza last week, while over 70 more await at the border. Additionally, a troubled US initiative to deliver aid by sea will soon end permanently due to logistical issues and damage to the temporary facility built for the effort.
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write a haeding and rewrite content Stephen Colbert took a slug from his drink glass before his first monologue after President Joe Biden’s disastrous performance during his debate with Donald Trump. This was going to be hard. But then the CBS “Late Show” host dove right into jokes that were impossible for any political satirist to resist. “I think that Biden debates as well as Abraham Lincoln — if you dug him up right now,” Colbert said this week. He had company. Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon have all found fodder in Biden’s stumbling, slack-jawed performance and in the Democrats’ internal debate over whether the president should drop his campaign for a second term. Late-night comics have skewered Biden’s Republican opponent, Donald Trump, for years. Some have made no secret that their feelings were not just professional: Colbert moderated a panel discussion between Biden and former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton at a Manhattan fundraiser in March, and ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel held court at a Biden Hollywood event last month. Yet to think they would have ignored Biden’s troubles was naive, says Robert Thompson, a scholar of TV and its history. “The idea that late-night comedy has been another mouthpiece for the Democratic party is simply not true, because comedy cannot afford to do that,” said Thompson, director of Syracuse University’s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture. “The job is that you’ve got to make fun of the people in power.” Although Stewart hosted a live version of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central immediately following the June 27 debate, most of the comedic response has come this week because of vacation schedules. In his first monologue back on Monday, Colbert made it clear that he believed Biden has been a great president. He referenced his appearance at the fundraiser, saying Biden seemed “ancient but cogent” that night. When Colbert showed a news report saying Biden had told fellow Democrats that he was fine, it was “just my brain,” the camera cut to a shot of the comic lying prone on the floor. “Who am I to recommend” what Biden should do? Colbert asked rhetorically. “I don’t know what’s going on in Joe Biden’s brain — something I apparently have in common with Joe Biden.” He dismissed the early explanation that Biden had a “bad episode” during the debate. “When ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ did a musical, that was a bad episode,” he said. ‘This took a year off my life.” While Colbert hasn’t pulled punches, “it looked to me like he was in some pain having to do it,” said Bill Carter, author of “The Late Shift” and a writer for LateNighter.com. The closest Colbert came to offering advice was when he said that Biden seemed caught between two virtues — perseverance and self-sacrifice. “Self-sacrifice takes a particular kind of courage,” he said. “That is a courage that I believe Joe Biden is capable of. I believe he’s a good enough man. He’s a good enough president to put the needs of the country ahead of the needs of his ego. And however painful that might be, it is possible that handing leadership to a younger generation is the right thing for the greater goodest.” A heartfelt statement — with a zinger at the end. The last word is a reference to a gaffe in Biden’s interview with George Stephanopoulos. A change that probably buoys Donald Trump Kimmel, who has been the subject of bitter attacks from Trump and has given them right back, is off this summer. He has not weighed in on Biden on his X account. “I imagine he’s happy to be on vacation,” Carter said. No doubt the change in tone is being relished by Trump, who has faced a “drumbeat of mockery” on late-night television, Carter said. His tiff with Kimmel and sour comments about “Saturday Night Live” are evidence of a thin skin. “SNL,” like Kimmel, is off for the summer. Stewart has taken exception to the way some Biden supporters have groused that more attention should have been focused on things Trump said during the debate. He pointed out on “The Daily Show” that Trump has been criticized by comics “every night for 10 years.” “We expected him to be f——- crazy,” Stewart said. “But Biden’s performance and inability to articulate at times was stunning. I couldn’t believe what I was watching.” He said on his podcast, “The Weekly Show,” on Thursday that Biden’s team has been dishonest about the president’s condition. Earlier on “The Daily Show,” he called for a more open conversation. “Do you understand the opportunity here?” Stewart said. “Do you have any idea how thirsty Americans are for any kind of inspiration or leadership and a release from this choice of a megalomaniac and a suffocating gerontocracy?” On his NBC show, Meyers said that when he watched the debate, “I tried turning on the captions, but that just made it worse.” He also mocked Biden’s promise to get more rest. “Your plan to calm fears about his age is an earlier bedtime?” Meyers said. “Are you hoping we’ll forget he’s 81 if you treat him like he’s 5½?” Late-night comics may not have the television audience that they used to, but they arguably still have a disproportionate influence in the public discourse, Syracuse’s Thompson says. In the case of the Biden jokes, he says, they’re “influential because it’s the last place you might have expected to see them.” Particularly for a younger generation, what the hosts say is often more likely to be experienced through video clips found online or shared on socials the next day. That was the case this week on “Morning Joe,” which replayed a routine by Jimmy Fallon on the “Tonight” show that referenced an interview with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on “Morning Joe” the day before. Fallon has kept his jokes mostly light, as he did Thursday night: “Biden,” he said, “hasn’t seen so many people jump ship since he vacationed on the Titanic.”ChatGPT
Late-Night Comics Take Aim at Biden’s Debate Performance
Stephen Colbert took a sip from his glass before his first monologue following President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump. This would be a challenging task.
But the CBS “Late Show” host wasted no time diving into jokes that political satirists couldn’t resist.
“I think that Biden debates as well as Abraham Lincoln—if you dug him up right now,” Colbert quipped this week.
Colbert wasn’t alone. Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, and Jimmy Fallon also found humor in Biden’s stumbling debate performance and the Democrats’ internal debate over whether Biden should seek a second term.
Late-night comics have long skewered Biden’s Republican opponent, Donald Trump. Some hosts, like Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, have shown their political leanings through participation in events with Biden. However, Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University’s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture, argues that it would be naive to think they would ignore Biden’s missteps.
“The idea that late-night comedy has been another mouthpiece for the Democratic party is simply not true because comedy cannot afford to do that,” Thompson said. “The job is that you’ve got to make fun of the people in power.”
While Stewart hosted a live version of “The Daily Show” immediately after the June 27 debate, most of the comedic responses have come this week due to vacation schedules.
In his first monologue back on Monday, Colbert acknowledged his belief in Biden’s presidency, recalling his appearance at a fundraiser where Biden seemed “ancient but cogent.” When Colbert showed a news report claiming Biden had assured fellow Democrats that he was fine, it was “just my brain,” the camera cut to Colbert lying prone on the floor.
“Who am I to recommend what Biden should do?” Colbert asked rhetorically. “I don’t know what’s going on in Joe Biden’s brain—something I apparently have in common with Joe Biden.”
Colbert dismissed early excuses that Biden had a “bad episode” during the debate. “When ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ did a musical, that was a bad episode,” he said. “This took a year off my life.”
Although Colbert hasn’t pulled punches, Bill Carter, author of “The Late Shift” and a writer for LateNighter.com, noted, “It looked to me like he was in some pain having to do it.”
The closest Colbert came to offering advice was suggesting Biden was torn between perseverance and self-sacrifice. “Self-sacrifice takes a particular kind of courage,” he said. “That is a courage that I believe Joe Biden is capable of. He’s a good enough president to put the needs of the country ahead of the needs of his ego.”
Colbert ended with a zinger, referencing a gaffe in Biden’s interview with George Stephanopoulos: “It is possible that handing leadership to a younger generation is the right thing for the greater goodest.”
A Change That Probably Pleases Trump
Kimmel, often a target of Trump’s ire, has not commented on Biden’s debate performance, being on vacation this summer. “I imagine he’s happy to be on vacation,” Carter said. This change in tone is likely relished by Trump, who has faced relentless mockery on late-night television.
Stewart, on “The Daily Show,” highlighted that Trump has been a comedic target for years, contrasting it with Biden’s unexpected performance. On his podcast, “The Weekly Show,” Stewart criticized Biden’s team for being dishonest about the president’s condition and called for a more open conversation about leadership.
“Do you have any idea how thirsty Americans are for any kind of inspiration or leadership and a release from this choice of a megalomaniac and a suffocating gerontocracy?” Stewart asked.
Meyers, on his NBC show, said watching the debate was frustrating: “I tried turning on the captions, but that just made it worse.” He mocked Biden’s promise to get more rest, quipping, “Your plan to calm fears about his age is an earlier bedtime?”
Thompson notes that while late-night comics may not have the television audience they once did, their influence in public discourse remains significant, especially as their clips are widely shared online.
For instance, this week on “Morning Joe,” a Jimmy Fallon routine referencing an interview with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was replayed, illustrating the enduring impact of late-night comedy. Fallon has kept his jokes light, saying on Thursday, “Biden hasn’t seen so many people jump ship since he vacationed on the Titanic.”
