Israel

Survivors and organizers of the Nova Music Festival in Israel where hundreds were killed or taken hostage created an exhibit called “October 7, 6:29am — The Moment the Music Stood Still.”

Basem Naim, a leader in Hamas’ politburo, met with NPR in Qatar for an interview about the war with Israel, prospects for a cease-fire and how the Palestinian group now views its Oct. 7 attack.

So often, telling the story of the Israel-Hamas war is reduced to a catalog of numbers.

But this war is much more than all of that. It is the daily life of the people living in the midst of the war that has now been raging for 10 months.

The war has also come to encompass a sense of insecurity that permeates, as the humanitarian crisis worsens in Gaza through famine, unclean water and dwindling resources. Pair that with the prospect of a wider regional conflict with Iran that looms nearby.

On Thursday, U.S. and Arab mediators will launch new talks to attempt a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. But hopes for tensions to be diffused are not high.

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The war in Gaza has been the main focus in the Middle East. Yet in the West Bank, Israel's government is seizing land and Jewish settlers are establishing outposts at the highest rate in decades.

In the Middle East, two assassinations in less than 24 hours could transform the region. Israel claimed responsibility for one. It has no comment on the other.

First, an Israeli attack in Lebanon killed a leader of the militant group Hezbollah. Just hours later, the political leader of Hamas was killed in Iran.

The Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was attending the swearing-in for Iran's new reformist president. Hamas says Haniyeh was killed by a rocket fired into his room at an official residency. Hamas and Iran both blame Israel for the attack.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke after the two killings, he did not claim responsibility for the attack in Tehran. He did describe the Israeli strike in Beirut as a crushing blow.

In Washington, White House spokesman John Kirby expressed concern the assassinations could result in an escalation of the conflicts already playing out.

Two assassinations in the Middle East have the potential to start a violent chain of retaliations. Will they?

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