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Israel is focusing its military efforts on the southern Gaza region and expects the war to continue for “many months to come,” said Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, Israel’s military chief of staff. More than 1.7 million displaced Gazans are registered in shelters in the south, including many sleeping along roads and in open spaces. Food and water are scarce.

“We have killed many terrorists and Hamas commanders,” Halevi said. “Some surrendered to our forces and hundreds were captured. We have destroyed the underground infrastructure and large quantities of weapons.” But, he acknowledged, “it seems likely that we will still encounter fighters in this area.”

Satellite images verified by The Times showed Israeli troops on the edge of Al Bureij, a densely populated neighborhood in the center of the Gaza Strip, about a mile from the border with Israel. The army confirmed the advance, saying its forces had attacked terrorist infrastructure in the Al Bureij area and discovered a tunnel shaft.

Risks: Nasser Hospital, the largest hospital still functioning in the southern Gaza Strip, could be in danger as bombing and fighting approaches, a senior UN official has warned. The hospital already has three times its capacity, he added.

Earth is ending its warmest year in the last 174 years, and very likely the last 125,000 years. Global temperatures have shattered previous records for months, and scientists are already sifting through the evidence to see if this year could reveal something new about the climate and what we do to it.

Although temperatures remain within the range of those predicted by computer models, one hypothesis is that planetary warming is accelerating. “What we’re really looking for is a lot of supporting evidence all pointing in the same direction,” says Chris Smith, a climate scientist at the University of Leeds. “Then we look for causality.”

One thing researchers will look at is whether anything unexpected could happen in the interplay of two major climate influences: the warming effect of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and the cooling effect of industrial pollution, which has diminished following sustained government efforts to improve public health. .

A big climate test: The Biden administration must decide whether to move forward with a $10 billion natural gas facility. Opponents say this would mean decades of additional greenhouse gas emissions.

In the Black Sea and Crimea, Ukraine is achieving successes at sea and putting Russia on the defensive. But its ground campaign is faltering and Russia is attacking the eastern battlefields after weakening Ukraine’s counteroffensive. Ukrainian officials acknowledged that they had virtually withdrawn from the eastern city of Marinka after months of fighting.

A day after Russia said it had taken Marinka, General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s top military commander, compared it to a scorched-earth battle for Bakhmut, the eastern city that fell to Russia in May. “The situation is exactly the same as in Bakhmut,” he said. “Street by street, block by block, and our soldiers became targets. And the result is what it is.”

Hours earlier, Ukraine’s air force said it had destroyed the Novocherkassk, a large landing ship, at a port in Crimea. Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed governor of Crimea, said one person was killed and two others injured in the attack, which sparked a fire.

The big picture: Ukraine indicated that it was preparing for a long war against Russia. On Monday, the government introduced a bill that would lower the age of people who can be drafted into the army from 27 to 25. Military officials have said a mobilization of up to 500,000 soldiers could be necessary.

“I am your new Father Frost”: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny described his transfer to a remote prison in the Arctic with a good dose of irony and humor.

Deadheads, ballerinas and Mick Jagger: As 2023 draws to a close, revisit 59 memorable photos that capture the year in arts and culture.

Experience meets speed: How Max Verstappen continued ‘rough’ to ‘polished diamond’.

What to watch: a starts XI of football documentaries.

It was a big year for the African cultural industry. Lynsey Chutel, our briefing writer in Johannesburg, shared some highlights and what to see in 2024.

Watch: Independent African films like “Hello Julia,‘, which explores the complexities of life in Sudan and South Sudan, have been celebrated at global film festivals and broke some regional box office records. Streaming services have brought new audiences to African telenovelas and miniseries, such as the Nigerian legal drama “Agu” and a historical drama about the 18th century Zulu king “Shaka iLembe.”

Then read and watch: African fantasy will reach an even wider audience thanks to the upcoming film adaptations. The director of “The Woman King,” Gina Prince-Bythewood, has agreed develop a screen adaptation of “Children of Blood and Bone,” the first book in Nigerian-American author Tomi Adeyemi’s bestselling “Legacy of Orisha” series.

Listen and dance: Amapiano, the synth-heavy South African dance music created by Gen Z producers, resonated at Coachella and then TikTok. “Water” went global and amassed a Grammy nomination for the artist Tyla. Featuring Afrobeats artists who integrate the sound into this already popular genre, and with a nod from Rihannaamapiano takes over dance floors around the world.

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