Morning news brief

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A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Cease-fire talks are expected to resume later this week between Hamas and Israel to find a way to end the war in Gaza.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Which is another way of saying that today there is no cease-fire, though the United States and much of the world have called for one. Hamas continues fighting under its surviving leader Yahya Sinwar. Israel has continued strikes in Gaza and has instructed Palestinians to move out of the way yet again.

MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi joins us now from Tel Aviv. The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 90 Palestinians were killed over the last few days. What happened?

HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: So it was actually an early morning strike on Saturday on the al-Tabaeen school compound that was sheltering thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City, which is in the north. It's also one of the worst Israeli attacks since the beginning of the war in October. There was a mosque on site also, which was sheltering Palestinians. And some of them were performing morning prayers. Gaza's civil defense described a gruesome picture, children missing limbs, burned bodies, bodies that were unrecognizable. And many women and elderly Palestinians were among the dead. Now, the U.N. has called the Israeli bombing of schools, which are also - which many of are shelters, as systemic at this point. And they say more than 450 schools out of the 564 in Gaza have been hit or damaged as of the beginning of this July.

MARTÍNEZ: What did the Israeli military say about the strike? And what's the reaction been around the world?

AL-SHALCHI: So the Israeli military named 19 militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad that they said were killed in the school strike. It said that the militant groups were using the school as an operation center. Both of those groups have denied. Vice President Kamala Harris condemned the strike, saying that, quote, "far too many civilians have been killed." She said that while Israel had a right to go after Hamas, it also had the responsibility to avoid civilian casualties.

MARTÍNEZ: OK. And the Israeli military is pushing more aggressively into towns and cities in Gaza. That means more evacuation orders have been issued for Palestinians.

AL-SHALCHI: That's right. So the Israeli military told thousands of Palestinians in southern Gaza around the city of Khan Younis, which is Gaza's second largest city, to start making their way out of the area. The new order came by way of leaflets dropped from the sky. And for many of the 2.3 million Palestinians who live in Gaza, this isn't their first, second or even third evacuation order. So it's been an endless cycle of finding shelter, setting up camp, then being ordered to leave because of the fighting. And many say, you know, with these constant strikes and incursions, there's actually nowhere to go that is safe. And the images coming out of Gaza are desperate - exhausted families marching, carrying blankets over their heads, children on donkey carts. The U.N. says that Gaza has just become unlivable, with outbreak of disease and garbage piled everywhere.

MARTÍNEZ: What's happening with cease-fire talks?

AL-SHALCHI: So the killing of a top Hezbollah leader by the Israeli military and then the assassination of Hamas' leader Ismail Haniyeh stalled the talks in the past couple of weeks. And then the region has been holding its breath to see if Iran will retaliate for Haniyeh's killing, which happened in Tehran. Last week, President Biden and the leaders of Egypt and Qatar put out a letter saying that talks are going to resume this Thursday. And they sounded pretty impatient, saying they wanted to present a, quote, final cease-fire proposal to end the war. Israel said it would send a delegation to the meeting. But after the strike yesterday, Hamas put out a statement hinting that they actually may not attend the meeting. They told mediators to just implement the plan that they've already been discussing for weeks instead of creating new talks.

MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi. Thank you very much.

AL-SHALCHI: Thank you.

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MARTÍNEZ: Ukrainian troops and Russian reinforcements are gearing up for what looks like a major confrontation in the villages and towns of western Russia.

INSKEEP: Yeah, Ukraine carried out a surprise offensive last week, crossing the border into Russian territory. Suddenly, the invader was being invaded. Now Russians are preparing for a counterattack.

MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Greg Myre joins us from Kyiv. Greg, Ukraine caught Russia by surprise last week. The surprise is now over. What should we look for this week?

GREG MYRE, BYLINE: Yeah, the question at this point is really, what is Ukraine's goal here? They've shocked the Russians, they've boosted Ukrainian morale, they've turned the momentum in their favor for now. But toward what end? President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the operation is intended to, quote, "push the war into the aggressor's territory." And it's certainly done that. But we're not getting details, just bits and pieces. Some troops are posting a bit on social media. They show themselves tearing down Russian flags in villages they've captured or standing in front of road signs to indicate they've entered a town. So it gives us some clue. The Ukrainians are at least 10 miles inside Russia's Kursk region, with unconfirmed reports they may have advanced 20 miles or so in some places. But we still don't know what the objective is.

MARTÍNEZ: But isn't Ukraine taking a major risk with this operation inside Russia?

MYRE: Yeah, absolutely. The Ukrainians are cheering because it's going well so far, but the coming days are full of danger. Ukrainian forces are already stretched very thin in the main battleground, the Donbas region in Eastern Ukraine, where the Russians are gaining ground. I spoke about this with Michael Kofman. He's with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and visited the front-line areas back in June.

MICHAEL KOFMAN: This offensive carries with it also significant risks. If Ukraine is struggling to hold its own prepared defenses on its territory, how is it going to hold a salient in Kursk in Russian territory?

MARTÍNEZ: So, Greg, has Ukrainian inflicted real damage? I mean, how hard would it be for Russia to get this territory back?

MYRE: Yeah, the Ukrainians found a vulnerable, lightly guarded spot on Russia's border and they exploited it very quickly and rapidly. There is now fighting inside Russia and serious casualties on both sides, but you probably wouldn't call it major damage at this point. President Vladimir Putin and the Russian military commander say reinforcements are moving into the Kursk region and Russia will soon reclaim its border. But Russian military bloggers are extremely critical. They say this move is slow, disorganized and doesn't inspire confidence. Tens of thousands of Russian civilians fled the area. They're complaining bitterly on social media. They said there was no warning of an attack, no organized evacuation. They had to flee. Now, Putin has promised these Russians, who've lost everything for now, a payment of 10,000 rubles, which is about $115.

MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. It's not the first time, though, that international attention has been focused on fighting in Kursk. Tell us about the last time.

MYRE: Yeah, A, that was in World War II, and it was raging in the summer of 1943. Nazi Germany launched just a monumental attack against the Soviet army in the city of Kursk, the capital of the Kursk region. Both sides massed huge numbers of tanks, artillery and planes. They fought for more than a month. The combined casualties was in the hundreds of thousands, perhaps 1 million or more. Military historians call it the largest tank battle ever and one of the largest battles of the war. The Soviets ultimately prevailed in what was a critical battle that contributed to the defeat of Nazi Germany.

MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Greg Myre in Kyiv. Greg, thank you.

MYRE: Sure thing, A.

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MARTÍNEZ: From athletes on boats to gymnastics GOATs.

INSKEEP: (Laughter).

MARTÍNEZ: It was a Summer Olympics that pretty much had it all.

INSKEEP: Yeah, the 2024 Paris Games ended last night. Millions and millions of people watched the games on TV. I don't know about you, A, but my family was among them. We saw the boats. We saw Simone Biles win again and again. We saw Cole Hocker come out of nowhere to win the 1,500 meters. How did he even do that? The U.S. had the most medals overall, although China tied the Americans for the most golds.

MARTÍNEZ: That Hocker race, I've watched it about a hundred times at least.

INSKEEP: Oh, yeah.

MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Here to wrap it all up for us is NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan one last time from Paris. Becky, before we get to the big picture, still one thing to kind of resolve, and that's U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles - questions about whether she'll have to give back her bronze medals.

BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Yeah.

MARTÍNEZ: Tell us about that.

SULLIVAN: Yeah, this is really a confounding situation. This all centers at the very end of the floor exercise final, which was one week ago today. Chiles, a U.S. gymnast, was awarded bronze after a last-minute score inquiry by her coach had boosted her score by a tenth of a point, which in gymnastics was enough to boost her from fifth place into third place over a Romanian gymnast. Then Romania protested. They claimed the inquiry had come too late, and over the weekend, an independent arbitrator agreed. There is a 1-minute deadline to make this kind of inquiry for Jordan Chiles' position. Chiles' coach, this arbitrator said, filed that inquiry four seconds too late. And so the final results were revised. Yesterday, Olympic officials said Chiles would have to return the bronze. And then, twist, all of this could go out the window - maybe. USA Gymnastics says they have video evidence that the inquiry was in fact filed on time, meaning the score should stand. They have challenged the ruling. This still has a way to go before it's resolved.

MARTÍNEZ: If it was me, I wouldn't know what I did with the bronze medal. I don't know where I put it.

SULLIVAN: (Laughter).

MARTÍNEZ: It's too bad, IOC.

SULLIVAN: Exactly.

MARTÍNEZ: Now, Becky, now that the games are over, how did it all go?

SULLIVAN: You know, I think for the U.S., it was good. You guys mentioned some of those highlights. I mean, a little bit of disappointment in the pool, a little bit of disappointment here and there on the track. But I think overall, a terrific Games for the U.S., a lot of huge wins. And here in Paris, the mood is that this was a huge success, too. I mean, for all the fuss that you heard from the French about the Olympics and how annoying it was going to be, they ended up being very into it.

MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).

SULLIVAN: I mean, you couldn't go anywhere around town these past two weeks without seeing people decked out in their France gear, the tricolor flags painted on their cheeks. And then the TV audiences - as you say, millions of people watched. They had actually cratered for the last Summer Olympics in Tokyo back in 2021. This year, they were back. NBC reported that the overall audience was up 77% over the last Olympics, which is just massive.

MARTÍNEZ: So what, if anything, of all the things, sticks out to you?

SULLIVAN: (Laughter) Of anything.

MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.

SULLIVAN: Will anything? So many things. I mean, I got to see some of the greatest athletes of a generation compete. That included Biles, like you said, Katie Ledecky, the French swimmer Leon Marchand, the Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis. I mean, those guys were incredible. And, you know, 2 1/2 weeks ago, A, you and I were talking about the NBA star Steph Curry, who was appearing in his first Olympic Games.

MARTÍNEZ: Oh, yeah, yeah.

SULLIVAN: He talked about wanting to, quote, "be where his feet were" and, like, take it all in, and he did. He introduced the table tennis team to other NBA players. He went to see gymnastics. He traded autographs and pins. And, of course, he won the gold medal. Here's how he reflected on that.

STEPHEN CURRY: From start to finish, being a fan of other athletes winning gold medals, being at medal ceremonies at gymnastics, like, it's all inspiring. And it's all about representing your country the right way. And there's just a different sense of pride being on that podium getting your gold medal.

SULLIVAN: And even though a lot of us aren't winning gold medals, I think people felt that way, proud to root for Americans. I had a lot of fun being here, A. I hope you guys had fun watching.

MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Becky Sullivan. Becky, if you and I maybe can meet up in LA 2028, I'll let you buy me lunch.

SULLIVAN: Sounds great. It's a plan.

MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Becky Sullivan. Thanks. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.