Attention to the Unseen

  Palestinian authorities say one in every 100 residents of Gaza have been killed over the past three months. That’s more than 23,000 dead, nearly two-thirds of them women and children. This human toll is front and center as Western officials visit the region expressing increasing concern about the situation. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken today has been meeting with top officials in Israel to persuade them to protect civilians, allow more aid into Gaza, and try to prevent…

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Business Insider reports: The average number of Russian casualties in Ukraine each day had risen by almost 300 during last year, the department said, citing data from the Ukrainian defense ministry. Neither Business Insider nor the UK’s MOD could independently verify the methodology used by the Ukrainian general staff. But the MOD previously said the figures were “plausible” considering mounting casualty figures from Russia’s attacks on Avdiivka, a small town on the edge of occupied Donetsk. The department said the…

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Anne Applebaum writes: On December 29, Russia launched the largest missile attack against Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. On January 2, another attack of the same magnitude hit schools, hospitals, and apartment blocks across Ukraine. Early yesterday morning—the day after Orthodox Christmas—the Russians hurled yet another missile barrage at Ukraine. Together, these attacks sent a message: Russian President Vladimir Putin is not interested in negotiations, cease-fires, or swapping land for peace. Although he cannot overwhelm Ukraine militarily,…

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  Middle East policy expert Trita Parsi says President Biden’s reluctance to press Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza has the potential to drag the U.S. into a war with Iran and its allies in the region. On Monday, Israel reportedly killed a Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon, just days after an airstrike killed a senior Hamas leader in the capital Beirut. Meanwhile, the U.S. has exchanged fire with Yemen’s Houthi forces, who have attacked commercial ships in the Red…

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Spencer Ackerman writes: Readers of The New York Times were treated on Monday morning to a breaking-news alert heralding what seemed like a welcome development: “Israel says it has begun to scale back war.” That description, which led the Times website, is about as close to the opposite of the way Israel’s war is heading as could appear in the leading US newspaper. The Israeli Defense Forces spokesman, Radm. Daniel Hagari, gave the Times the interview that it used for…

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The Washington Post reports: President Biden has dispatched his top aides to the Middle East with a critical objective: Prevent a full-blown war from erupting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Israel has made clear it views as untenable the regular exchange of fire between its forces and Hezbollah along the border and may soon launch a major military operation in Lebanon. “We prefer the path of an agreed-upon diplomatic settlement,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Friday,…

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Joseph E. Stiglitz and Andrew Kosenko write: As Russia’s war against Ukraine continues to wreak havoc both regionally and globally, the Ukrainian people and their allies demonstrate remarkable determination and courage. But nearly two years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, it is increasingly clear that the international community can and must do much more to help. While the G7 countries and other governments around the world have been extraordinarily generous in supporting the Ukrainian war effort, there are signs…

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