The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas may have been weeks in the making – as detailed this week by Julian Borger and Ruth Michaelson – and led to the release of dozens of hostages on either side, but behind the scenes there was little expectation that it would lead to a longer-term pause in hostilities.
In a special report, almost two months after the deadliest attack on Israel in its 75-year history and as the world focuses on its retaliatory bombardment of Gaza that has seen around 14,000 people killed, Jonathan Freedland finds a country still convulsed with rage and sorrow, unable to see the pain of its Palestinian neighbours as it faces an uncertain future. As one senior Israeli military figure remarked: “It’s not yet post-traumatic stress disorder. We’re still in it.”
The far-right politician Geert Wilders stunned onlookers by finishing well ahead of the field in the Dutch election last week. But race riots in Ireland, a country previously thought immune to such extremism, were equally shocking. Rory Carroll, Lisa O’Carroll and Jon Henley report on contrasting manifestations of the rise of the far right across Europe.
As the Cop28 climate conference opens in Dubai this week, Fiona Harvey looks at some of the key issues likely to come under discussion. And there’s a stark warning from Simon Stiell, the UN’s top climate official who is overseeing the summit, that the world is on the frontline of disaster.
Elsewhere there’s a look at the lives of single women across the generations, as eight writers from their 20s to 90s celebrate single life as a destination of its own. And there’s a moving picture essay by chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins, with the photographer Marta Syrko, on how Ukraine is coming to terms with its growing number of war amputees.
Culture goes behind the scenes at London’s National Theatre as it brings Roald Dahl’s The Witches to the stage. And there’s also a look at the previously unseen paintings of the late Australian entertainer Barry Humphries.
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