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Today's top stories
The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt opened for limited evacuations this morning for the first time since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks against Israel. Some foreign passport holders and dozens of seriously wounded people will be allowed to leave Gaza, according to local sources. The first group of people have reportedly entered the Rafah terminal for processing to enter Egypt.
Check out npr.org/mideastupdates for more coverage, differing views and analysis of this conflict.
Donald Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. is set to testify today in a New York civil fraud case. His siblings, Eric and Ivanka, as well as the former president are expected to testify this week and next. The judge presiding over the case has ruled the Trump Organization committed fraud by lying about the value of their assets. The trial will determine if it was committed on purpose and the amount the defendants should pay if found liable.
President Biden heads to Minnesota today to highlight his administration's investment in rural America. He'll be speaking in the home state of Rep. Dean Phillips, Biden's newest challenger for the Democratic presidential nomination.
An illness spread by sand flies called cutaneous leishmaniasis — once thought to be primarily a tropical disease — has been present in the U.S. for years, according to new CDC research. Most reported cases have been in Texas. The illness is rarely fatal but can be disfiguring.
From our hosts
This essay is written by Steve Inskeep. He's hosting Morning Edition from locations in Israel and the occupied West Bank this week.
The other night, we accepted an invitation to visit the Israeli military spokesman's office. My colleagues Reena Advani and Ziad Buchh observed how young almost everyone seemed. Israelis commonly perform compulsory military service after high school. Many others have been called back to service for this war, and with the exception of a few senior officers, hardly anyone seemed to be out of their twenties.
We'd come to see the latest version of an Israeli government video showing the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. On screen, many people were young. One scene, taken from security cameras in a home, shows two boys in their underwear, having been surprised in bed by the early-morning attack. Their father tries to herd them into a shelter but is apparently killed in front of them.
Another scene shows Palestinian attackers, mostly very young men, taking celebratory selfie videos, often showing the people they had killed in the frame.As Israel responds to the Hamas-led attack, much of the suffering has fallen on the young.
As of today, Gaza's Health Ministry said more than 8,500 people had been killed. The U.N. says nearly 70% of them are women and children. Many civilians tell stories of searching for water for their children; Israel cut off the supply at the start of the war.
War is nearly always conducted by the young, though older people tend to send them. It often is inflicted on the young, who are not consulted beforehand. There's a special irony of this conflict in that it turns on arguments over land that stretch back generations — even centuries — long before any of today's participants were born.
Life advice
Open enrollment begins today for Affordable Care Act plans. If you're among the millions of Americans comparing benefits and prices, here are the changes you need to know about:
Need more help navigating open enrollment? Life Kit has a glossary of essential insurance terms.
3 things to know before you go
This newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.
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