By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An apparent Israeli airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in southern Gaza killed at least 25 Palestinians on Tuesday, as heavy bombardment in the north forced the closure of medical facilities in Gaza City and sent thousands fleeing in search of increasingly elusive refuge.

Israel’s new ground assault in Gaza’s largest city is its latest effort to battle Hamas, which is regrouping in areas the army previously said had been largely cleared.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Large parts of Gaza City and urban areas around it have been flattened or left a shattered landscape after nine months of fighting. Much of the population fled earlier in the war, but several hundred thousand Palestinians remain in the north.

“The fighting has been intense,” said Hakeem Abdel-Bar, who fled Gaza City’s Tuffah district to the home of relatives in another part of the city. He said Israeli warplanes and drones were “striking anything moving” and that tanks had moved into central districts.

The strike at the entrance to the school killed at least 25 people, according to an Associated Press reporter who counted the bodies at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Hospital spokesperson Weam Fares said the dead included at least seven women and children and that the toll was likely to rise.

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Earlier airstrikes in central Gaza killed at least 14 people, including a woman and four children, according to two hospitals that received the bodies. Israel has repeatedly struck what it says are militant targets across Gaza since the start of the war nine months ago.

The military blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the group fights in dense, urban areas, but the army rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children. There was no immediate comment from the military on the strike on the school.

There was also no immediate word on casualties in Gaza City. Families whose relatives were wounded or trapped were calling for ambulances, but first responders could not reach most of the affected districts because of the Israeli operations, said Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent.

“It’s a dangerous zone,” she said.

After Israel on Monday called for an evacuation from eastern and central parts of Gaza City, staff at two hospitals — Al-Ahli and the Patients Friends Association Hospital – rushed to move patients and shut down, the United Nations said. Farsakh said all three medical facilities run by the Red Crescent in Gaza City had closed.

Scores of patients were transferred to the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, which itself was the scene of heavy fighting earlier in the war. “We do not know where to go. There is no treatment and no necessities for life,” said Mohammad Abu Naser, who was being treated there. “We are dying slowly.”

The Israeli military on Tuesday said it had told hospitals and other medical facilities in Gaza City that they did not need to evacuate. But hospitals in Gaza have often shut down and moved patients at any sign of possible Israeli military action, fearing raids.

The Episcopal Church in the Middle East, which operates Al-Ahli, said the hospital was “compelled to close by the Israeli army” after the evacuation orders and a wave of nearby drone strikes on Sunday.

In the past nine months, Israeli troops have occupied at least eight hospitals, causing the deaths of patients and medical workers along with massive destruction to facilities and equipment. Israel has claimed Hamas uses hospitals for military purposes, though it has provided only limited evidence.

Only 13 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are functioning, and those only partially, according to the U.N.’s humanitarian office.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza, triggered by Hamas’ Oct 7 attack, has killed or wounded more than 5% of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Nearly the entire population has been driven from their homes. Many have been displaced multiple times. Hundreds of thousands are packed into sweltering tent camps.

The U.N. humanitarian office said the exodus in Gaza City was “dangerously chaotic,” with people instructed to flee through neighborhoods where fighting was underway.

“People have been observed fleeing in multiple directions, not knowing which way may be safest,” the agency said in a statement. It said the largest U.N. bakery in the city was forced to close, and that the fighting had blocked aid groups from accessing warehouses.

Maha Mahfouz, a mother of two, said she fled twice in the past 24 hours. She first rushed from her home in Gaza City to a relative’s house in another neighborhood. When that became dangerous, she fled Monday night to Shati, a decades-old refugee camp that has grown into an urban district where Israel has carried out repeated raids.

She described vast destruction in the areas targeted in the latest raids. “The buildings were destroyed. The roads were destroyed. All has become rubble,” she said.

The Israeli military has said it had intelligence showing that combatants from Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group were regrouping in central Gaza City. Israel accuses Hamas and other fighters of hiding among civilians. In Shijaiyah, a Gaza City neighborhood that has seen weeks of fighting, the military said it had destroyed 6 kilometers (3 miles) of Hamas tunnels.

Hamas has warned that the latest raids in Gaza City could lead to the collapse of negotiations for a cease-fire and hostage-release deal.

Israel and Hamas had appeared to narrow the gaps in recent days, with the U.S., Egypt and Qatar mediating.

CIA Director William Burns met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi on Tuesday in Cairo to discuss the negotiations, el-Sissi’s office said. More talks were to be held Wednesday in Qatar, where Hamas maintains a political office.

But obstacles remain, even after Hamas agreed to relent on its key demand that Israel commit to ending the war as part of any agreement. Hamas still wants mediators to guarantee that negotiations conclude with a permanent cease-fire.

Israel has rejected any deal that would force it to end the war with Hamas intact. Hamas on Monday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “putting more obstacles in the way of negotiations,” including the operations in Gaza City.

Hamas’ cross-border raid on Oct. 7 killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities. The combatants took roughly 250 people hostage. About 120 are still in captivity, with about a third said to be dead.

Israel’s bombardment and offensives in Gaza have killed more than 38,200 people and wounded more than 88,000, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

Magdy reported from Cairo.

A man found dead in his St. Paul home last week was a 37-year-old, police said Tuesday.

Police are investigating the death of Andrew Gutzman in the South Como area as a homicide.

A woman approached someone Friday morning and reported a man was dead, police said last week. That person called 911 about 7:30 a.m.

Officers found Gutzman in a home on Hatch Avenue near Chatsworth Street and St. Paul Fire medics pronounced him dead. He was the co-owner, according to a property record.

Police haven’t released information about how Gutzman died, citing the ongoing investigation. No one was under arrest as of Tuesday afternoon.

Officers brought the woman who reported the man’s death to police headquarters to be interviewed by investigators, police said last week.

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Katie Walsh | Tribune News Service (TNS)

A film like “Sing Sing” is a rare, precious thing. An artifact crafted with the utmost care, this is a cinematic work of unique empathy, a slice of hand-turned humanity, hewn from the heart, with rigorous attention paid to the process itself.

How this quietly captivating film was made is almost the more important story, but it is part and parcel with the text on screen. “Sing Sing” is the result of years of research and volunteer work on behalf of writer/director Greg Kwedar and his co-writer Clint Bentley with Rehabilitation Through the Arts, a theater program for incarcerated men at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Kwedar and Bentley tried to mount a narrative film project about RTA, but never managed to capture the magic they experienced in the room itself. So they decided to bring the room itself to the screen, casting a group of RTA alumni alongside stars Colman Domingo and Paul Raci.

In “Sing Sing,” the supporting cast are all playing themselves (or something like themselves), and giving damn good performances too. Domingo steps into the role of John “Divine G” Whitfield, a man incarcerated at Sing Sing who has become a playwright and actor through RTA. Raci plays RTA director Brent Buell with his signature irascible warmth, while one of Domingo’s longtime collaborators Sean San Jose gives a terrific performance as Mike Mike, Divine G’s close friend. However, the true star-is-born moment in “Sing Sing” belongs to Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, playing himself, a man hardened by his past, and his present, who finds grace and tenderness in the theater.

The plot follows the production of RTA’s first original play, a sprawling time-travel comedy that moves from ancient Egypt to gladiator arenas to the Old West, with a visit from Freddy Krueger too (it’s based on the real Buell’s play “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code,” detailed in a 2005 Esquire article by John H. Richardson). But the film is about so much more than just these men putting on a show. It’s about the hope and heartbreak within these walls; the personal growth and triumph that these men experience together onstage. It’s a stark reminder that life in prison is still life, in prison.

Kwedar demonstrates a remarkable patience with his filmmaking, in both form and storytelling. Cinematographer Pat Scola shoots on 16 mm, celluloid requiring the kind of care and thoughtfulness that this story also requires. The film stock is rich and saturated in a warm palette of earthy golds and greens that reflects both the natural and institutional environment.

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Kwedar and Scola establish a motif of slow zooms to situate the characters in space and draw our attention to their interactions, but also to constantly remind us of where they are, even when they do find emotional escape. In the theater room, while the men share with each other or participate in improv games, the camera is loose and eye level, inviting the audience to become participants.

Kwedar and Bentley’s screenplay is deft and subtle, personal backstories emerging organically in conversation. They also make the powerful choice to skirt melodrama and avoid the kind of violence one might expect from a “prison movie.” There is loss, grief and disappointment, but this is not a sensationalized portrait of prison life. It’s a humble assertion that life here continues on in all its tragedies and triumphs: loved ones are lost and challenges seem insurmountable, but hard work pays off, and there are still happy surprises to be had.

In this deeply empathetic depiction, “Sing Sing” is a powerful argument for humanity within a space designed to dehumanize. RTA is an oasis from this institution where everyday life is rife with the kind of large and small humiliations and nagging reminders that their time and lives are not their own, with lineups, room searches and parole hearings shaping their reality.

Domingo is the kind of actor who can do anything, but he does this kind of quietly dignified, heartbreakingly hopeful character just about better than anyone. He is the beating, bleeding heart of “Sing Sing,” but he allows his troupe of players to shine even brighter and take center stage for their big moments. San Jose delivers a monologue that is one of the most devastating scenes on film all year. But Maclin steals the whole movie performing his own personal journey, as a man who allows himself to crack open and let the light — and love — in.

If it feels like Kwedar doesn’t exactly know how to end the film, with a few too many denouements cluttering the conclusion, but it’s a forgivable infraction. One can almost feel him searching for the right moment to let us go, releasing us from his spell, the film itself an all-too-brief moment of all-too-rare grace that we too are reluctant to leave.

‘SING SING’

4 stars out of 4

MPA rating: R (for language throughout)

Running time: 1:45

How to watch: In theaters July 12

©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Effectively, the Wild completed their offseason check list on Tuesday afternoon, doling out a 1-year, $1 million contract to defenseman Declan Chisholm.

After getting through free agency last week, Chisholm, 24, became the priority for general manager Bill Guerin. He flashed his potential last season after the Wild claimed him off waivers, showcasing some offensive upside on the blue line, while averaging 16 minutes, 52 seconds of ice time. He will likely start this season on the bottom pairing with the ability to move up in a pinch.

In other news, the Wild also re-signed winger Adam Raska to a 1-year, 2-way contract that pays him $775,000 in the NHL and $97,500 in the AHL. He provides some bite that can be used wherever he ends up playing for the Wild. He was acquired in the early stages of last season via a trade with the San Jose Sharks.

Though the Wild could still make a trade at some point over the next couple of months, they are more or less out of cap space, meaning they can’t sign any impact players without cutting costs elsewhere.

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