October 18, 2024 |
Good morning. We’re covering the killing of Hamas’s leader and Donald Trump’s scattershot campaigning style.
Plus: Who is the real Hugh Grant?
Yahya Sinwar, the Palestinian leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, at a rally in 2021. Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto, via Getty Images |
The leader of Hamas is dead
Yahya Sinwar, the powerful and elusive militant leader of Hamas who helped to plot the group’s devastating assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was killed in battle on Wednesday, the Israeli military said. A unit of trainee squad commanders unexpectedly encountered him in southern Gaza, Israeli defense officials confirmed yesterday.
After a firefight in Gaza with Hamas forces, Israeli soldiers retrieved a body that was later confirmed to be Sinwar’s via DNA, dental records and fingerprints. Sinwar had been in hiding in Gaza for the last year, but was believed to be closely overseeing Hamas military operations. There was no immediate response from Hamas. Read the latest updates.
A route toward some kind of truce in Gaza now seems slightly more navigable after Sinwar’s death, since it gives both Israel and Hamas a pretext to soften their stances, Patrick Kingsley, our Jerusalem bureau chief, writes in this analysis. But major obstacles remain, and any solution in Gaza will have only a limited effect on the broader regional conflict.
In Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated Sinwar’s death, but he stopped short of declaring total victory in Israel’s war against Hamas. “Today, evil took a heavy blow — the mission ahead of us is still unfinished,” he said.
The White House: President Biden congratulated Netanyahu, saying he would speak to him about “the pathway for bringing the hostages home to their families, and for ending this war once and for all.” Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, is set to travel to Israel in the coming days.
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Donald Trump has described his digressive approach to public speaking as “the weave.” Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times |
Trump’s meandering approach to the stump speech
In the final weeks of the 2024 election campaign, some advisers and allies of Donald Trump fear that his impetuousness and scattershot style on the trail needlessly risk victory in battleground states, where the margin for error is increasingly narrow.
At a time when his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, has stepped up her attacks on him as “unstable,” Trump has struggled to publicly hone his message, veering off script and ramping up personal attacks on Harris that allies have urged him to rein in.
Analysis: “When he’s good, he’s great, and when he’s off message, he’s not so great,” said David Urban, a Trump adviser. “I don’t think anyone is really changing their mind at this point, but when he distracts from his biggest, broadest messaging, it’s counterproductive.”
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Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine, at the European Council Summit in Brussels. Olivier Hoslet/EPA, via Shutterstock |
Zelensky tries to sell his ‘victory plan’
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, told European leaders in Brussels that his country desperately needed their support for his plan to end the war. It is unclear how much Ukraine’s allies will embrace the plan. Later, Zelensky made the case for Ukraine’s accession into NATO, a key point in his proposals.
“You all know Russia’s psychology,” Zelensky said. “Russia will resort to diplomacy only when it sees that it cannot achieve anything by force.”
Related: Pentagon officials worry that the flow of weapons to Ukraine and Israel could be hurting the U.S. military’s ability to respond to a new conflict.
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Tolga Akmen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
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MORNING READ |
Atul Loke for The New York Times |
Some of the worst abuses in Bangladesh’s recent past have come to light since Sheikh Hasina, its autocratic prime minister, fled the country. Among them is an underground military detention center where political captives were pushed to the edge of insanity and death — often for years on end. Here are their stories.
Find the main takeaways from our investigation here.
Lives lived: Mitzi Gaynor, the American actress who played the sparky female lead in “South Pacific,” but whose film career came to an end with that of movie musicals, died yesterday at 93.
CONVERSATION STARTERS |
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ARTS AND IDEAS |
Dana Scruggs for The New York Times |
Hugh Grant’s ‘freak-show era’
Who is the real Hugh Grant? Breezy British bluster and rom-com charm (“Mr. Stuttery Blinky,” to use his phrase), or something altogether more complex?
Since the 1994 film “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” Grant’s name has been virtually synonymous with the quintessential British rom-com hero. But at 64, he is enjoying what he calls “the freak-show era” of his career, playing a rogue’s gallery of suave miscreants, seedy gangsters, power-hungry tricksters and even an Oompa-Loompa.
In his most recent role, Grant plays a charismatically articulate villain in the religious-horror movie “Heretic.” Speaking to our reporter on a walk through Central Park, he compared himself to the character: “The ability to manipulate and sort of seduce — I might be guilty of that.”
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Cook: Readers give our delicious vegan chocolate cupcake recipe five stars.
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Travel: These six vacations aim to make you happier and healthier.
Read: Our critic recommends three psychological thrillers that will make you squirm.
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. Have a great weekend. — Natasha
Reach Natasha and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.
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