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Tuesday

Soldiers and civilians enter a rocket shelter as sirens sound in the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona on the Lebanon border on June 10, 2024.

Soldiers and civilians enter a rocket shelter as sirens sound in the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona on the Lebanese border on June 10. Maya Levin for NPR hide caption

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Maya Levin for NPR

Middle East crisis — explained

For Israelis near the Lebanon border, war with Hezbollah feels inevitable

The exchange of fire between Hezbollah and Israel has intensified in recent weeks along the border with Lebanon. Some Israelis in the north say they feel resigned to the possibility of war.

Wednesday

Lebanese special forces patrol on a road that leads to the U.S. Embassy in Aukar, a northern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. A gunman was captured by Lebanese soldiers after attempting to attack the U.S. Embassy near Beirut on Wednesday, the military said.

Lebanese special forces patrol on a road that leads to the U.S. Embassy in Aukar, a northern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. A gunman was captured by Lebanese soldiers after attempting to attack the U.S. Embassy near Beirut on Wednesday, the military said. Bilal Hussein/AP hide caption

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Bilal Hussein/AP

Middle East crisis — explained

A gunman was captured after a shootout near the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon

The Lebanese military said that soldiers shot an assailant, who they only described as a Syrian national. The gunman was wounded and taken to a hospital. The shooter's motives were not clear.

Saturday

A tattered Israeli flag waves on Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip on Thursday.

A tattered Israeli flag waves on Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip on Thursday. Maya Levin for NPR hide caption

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Maya Levin for NPR

Middle East crisis — explained

Five ways Israelis have changed, after 5 months of war

The state of Israeli society, five months after the Oct. 7 attack, is crucial to understanding where the Israel-Hamas conflict might lead. Here are five ways Israel has been transformed.

State of the World - How Israelis Have Changed in Five Months of War

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Thursday

Relatives in Lebanon mourn victims of Israeli strikes, including a 5-year-old girl

Relatives of Amal Hassan al-Durr, a 5-year-old girl, lay her body to rest at the cemetery in Majdal Zoun, southern Lebanon, on Feb. 22. She lost her life during an Israeli attack. In recent weeks, Israel has intensified its airstrikes, penetrating deeper into Lebanon. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for NPR hide caption

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Diego Ibarra Sánchez for NPR

The Picture Show

Relatives in Lebanon mourn victims of Israeli strikes, including a 5-year-old girl

Photographer Diego Ibarra Sánchez accompanied mourners in southern Lebanon after Israel stepped up airstrikes that claimed the lives of civilians and Hezbollah fighters.

Monday

Thursday

Strikes along Israel's border with Lebanon are again fueling fears of a widening war

An Israeli army soldier sits by a machine gun deployed on a tripod at a position in the upper Galilee region of northern Israel near the border with Lebanon on October 28, 2023 amid increasing cross-border tensions between Hezbollah and Israel as fighting continues in the south with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images

Middle East crisis — explained

Strikes along Israel's border with Lebanon are again fueling fears of a widening war

A series of deadly strikes on Wednesday and Thursday underscored the risk that daily cross-border skirmishes could quickly escalate and turn the war in Gaza into a broader regional conflict.

Friday

War in Gaza opens scars for Palestinians in Lebanon, firming up support for Hamas

A Lebanese boy stands atop the roof of a crumbling house within the bustling streets of the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for NPR hide caption

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Diego Ibarra Sánchez for NPR

Middle East crisis — explained

War in Gaza opens scars for Palestinians in Lebanon, firming up support for Hamas

In Beirut's Shatila refugee camp, Palestinian refugees say they support Hamas' fight for their homeland.

War in Gaza opens scars for Palestinians in Lebanon, firming up support for Hamas

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Wednesday

As conflict on Israel's northern border grows, residents agonize over whether to stay

Sisilya al-Ousi sits in her apartment building's bomb shelter, where she spends most of her time. Tamir Kalifa for NPR hide caption

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Tamir Kalifa for NPR

Middle East crisis — explained

As conflict on Israel's northern border grows, residents agonize over whether to stay

The pace of attacks across the Lebanon border has quickened since a strike in Beirut killed a Hamas official. Some residents have vowed to stay. Others wonder whether it's time to move away for good.

Saturday

Hezbollah fires rockets at northern Israel in response to killing of a Hamas leader

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip take shelter at European Gaza Hospital in Rafah on Saturday. Hatem Ali/AP hide caption

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Hatem Ali/AP

Middle East crisis — explained

Hezbollah fires rockets at northern Israel in response to killing of a Hamas leader

The militia fired dozens of rockets at northern Israel, warning that the barrage was its initial response to the targeted killing of a top leader from the allied Hamas group in Lebanon's capital.

Tuesday

Why Hezbollah and Israel haven't plunged into all-out war

A picture taken from from the southern Lebanese village of Tayr Harfa, near the border with Israel, shows smoke billowing near an Israeli outpost from rockets fired by Hezbollah on Dec. 15. AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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AFP via Getty Images

Middle East crisis — explained

Why Hezbollah and Israel haven't plunged into all-out war

The Iran-backed Lebanese militia and Israeli forces have been fighting across their border since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, but analysts say they want to avoid a war.

Why Hezbollah and Israel haven't plunged into all-out war

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Thursday

Away from Gaza, homes in south Lebanon bear the scars of Israel's other front line

Widad Ghareeb visits a neighbor's house that was destroyed by an Israeli attack during fighting between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah forces that escalated when the latest Gaza war began. Ghareeb's home next door was also heavily damaged. Diego Ibarra Sánchez for NPR hide caption

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Diego Ibarra Sánchez for NPR

Middle East crisis — explained

Away from Gaza, homes in south Lebanon bear the scars of Israel's other front line

A farming village in southern Lebanon sits on the edge of a parallel conflict to the war in Gaza, with Hezbollah militants fighting with Israel. Some Lebanese hold out hope for a permanent truce.

Away from Gaza, homes in south Lebanon bear the scars of Israel's other front line

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Wednesday

As fighting grinds on in Gaza, some Israelis in the north want a war with Hezbollah

Amit Michelson, an Israeli military reservist, stands for a portrait at a military base near the border with Lebanon in northern Israel on Nov. 28. Tamir Kalifa for NPR hide caption

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Tamir Kalifa for NPR

Middle East crisis — explained

As fighting grinds on in Gaza, some Israelis in the north want a war with Hezbollah

Hamas is viewed by many Israelis as an existential threat in the south. But in the north, especially in Upper Galilee, many Israelis say Lebanon's Hezbollah militants must also be destroyed.

As fighting grinds on in Gaza, some Israelis in the north want a war with Hezbollah

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Thursday

Israel-Hezbollah fighting forces people in southern Lebanon to flee violence — again

An internally displaced woman feeds her daughter at their room in a school reconverted as a temporary center for internally displaced people on Oct. 25, in Tyre, Lebanon. The International Organization for Migration reported 19,646 people had been displaced inside Lebanon since Oct. 8, the day after an assault on Israel by Hamas militants. Manu Brabo/Getty Images hide caption

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Manu Brabo/Getty Images

Middle East crisis — explained

Israel-Hezbollah fighting forces people in southern Lebanon to flee violence — again

Thousands of villagers living along the border with Israel have been evacuated to Tyre, 50 miles south of Beirut. Their escape is a reminder of the cost of the war in Gaza, even far from its borders.

Israel-Hezbollah fighting forces people in southern Lebanon to flee violence — again

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Wednesday

The NICU at Galilee Medical Center was the first part of the hospital to move underground.

The NICU at Galilee Medical Center was the first part of the hospital to move underground. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption

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Claire Harbage/NPR

Middle East crisis — explained

Hospitals in Israel move underground to keep working amid rockets from Lebanon

Across Israel, especially in the north, hospitals are setting up underground or fortified care facilities as fallout from war with Hamas intensifies fighting with militants in neighboring Lebanon.

Hospitals in Israel move underground to keep working amid rockets from Lebanon

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Sunday

Why a game in which you look for a real, live pink elephant could help save the world

Edgard Gouveia at the PxP Festival in Berlin, where he organized a circle dance. He's a believer in the power of games and is currently developing a global game "to get communities to come together and use hands-on actions to restore the environment." Marlena Waldthausen for NPR hide caption

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Marlena Waldthausen for NPR

Goats and Soda

Why a game in which you look for a real, live pink elephant could help save the world

That's a community-wide game Edgard Gouveia remembers from his boyhood in Brazil — and uses as a model in his efforts to heal the world through gameplay.