Good morning! This is our daily news roundup with everything you need to know in one concise read. Sign up here to get this delivered to your inbox every morning.
As Gaza faces a humanitarian crisis, an attempt to let aid in through Rafah is stalled
Palestinians in besieged Gaza crowded into hospitals and schools on Monday, seeking shelter and running low on food and water. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes ahead of an expected Israeli ground invasion aimed at destroying Hamas after its fighters attacked southern Israel.
Much of Hamas’ military infrastructure is concealed in urban areas, where street-by-street fighting would likely cause mounting casualties on both sides. Israel has given no timetable for a ground incursion.
The focus was on the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, where the U.S. and international mediators appeared close to reaching a deal for a humanitarian cease-fire that would allow aid in and allow foreigners to exit Gaza. Rafah was shut down nearly a week ago because of Israeli airstrikes.
Late Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Egyptian-controlled border crossing into Gaza was expected to reopen. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Monday there was no cease-fire “at the moment.”
Food, water and medicine supplies in Gaza are dwindling. Hospitals say they are on the verge of collapse and unable to heed Israeli demands to evacuate patients. More than a week of Israeli airstrikes have demolished entire neighbourhoods but failed to stem militant rocket fire into Israel.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,670 Palestinians have been killed and 9,600 wounded since the fighting erupted, more than in the 2014 Gaza war, which lasted over six weeks. That makes this the deadliest of the five Gaza wars for both sides.
More than 1,400 Israelis have died, the vast majority civilians killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault. At least 155 others, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to Israel. It’s the deadliest war for Israel since the 1973 conflict with Egypt and Syria.
Israel has ordered more than one million Palestinians — almost half the territory’s population — to move to Gaza’s south. The military says it is trying to clear away civilians ahead of a major campaign against Hamas in the north, where it says the militants have extensive networks of tunnels and rocket launchers.
Hamas has urged people to stay in their homes, and the Israeli military on Sunday released photos it said showed a Hamas roadblock preventing traffic from moving south. Read the full story here.
Heavyweight clash
(Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)
France’s Cameron Woki, in blue, in action with South Africa’s Deon Fourie during their Rugby World Cup quarterfinal match on Sunday in Paris. South Africa defeated the host France to move on to the semifinals
In brief
For two weeks, a Toronto courtroom has heard graphic and disturbing testimony from four women who all claim they were sexually assaulted by one-time Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard. And with each complainant, Nygard’s defence lawyer, Brian Greenspan, has tried to whittle away at their stories, attempting to show contradictions with past statements the women gave to police and questioning elements of their testimony. On Monday, the trial is expected to hear from the fifth and final complainant — a woman whom Nygard met at a club in Hull, Que. Her testimony will attempt to add to the narrative the Crown has been pushing forward — that Nygard established a similar pattern of sexual assault with each of the women. Nygard, 82, has pleaded not guilty in Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice to five counts of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement. Read the full story here.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s climbdown on removing land from the protected Greenbelt for housing is expected to go into legislation on Monday. Ford’s Progressive Conservative government is set to table a bill that will reverse its 2022 move to give the owners of certain Greenbelt properties the right to build housing, boosting their land values by an amount the auditor general pegged at $8.3 billion. The premier announced the reversal on Sept. 21, apologized for breaking his promise not to touch the Greenbelt and has not held a news conference since. The bill expected Monday is part of the government’s efforts to put out that the political fire that followed the removal. The government doesn’t actually need to bring in legislation to return the land to the Greenbelt. The removals last November were made through a cabinet decision, so the government could make the reversal happen simply by rescinding that cabinet order. Instead, Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra says the bill he plans to table will strengthen protection of the Greenbelt by defining its boundaries in law. Read the full story here.
At half a bottle of wine a day, Lynn thought of herself as a “casual drinker.” The 53-year-old Vancouver resident owns a small business where socializing with alcohol is common. When she began experiencing symptoms of depression, she chalked it up to social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. She got a prescription for antidepressants, but after a few months she saw no sign of improvement. She did, however, find herself craving alcohol more often. “I was drinking faster, I was drinking more,” she recalled. “I was getting up to go to the liquor store to start my day.” (CBC News agreed not to use Lynn’s last name because she feared the stigma associated with alcohol use disorder would hurt her business.) Two papers published in CMAJ Monday underscore the dangers that high-risk alcohol use can pose to people like Lynn. The first explains that high-risk drinking often goes unrecognized and offers guidelines for treating it. And the second shows that certain kinds of antidepressants can drive some alcohol users to drink more. Read the full story here.
A new report by the Menopause Foundation of Canada suggests missed work days, lower productivity and lost income due to menopause symptoms cost $3.5 billion a year. The foundation’s president, Janet Ko, said many women end up taking time off or quitting altogether, often at the height of their careers. “We believe that menopause is the missing link to explain why more women aren’t breaking through the glass ceiling,” she said. “When women should be earning the most, they’re actually stepping back, and that creates, of course, a ripple effect in the economy.” Almost half of women polled say they are unprepared for menopause, and nearly all report experiencing symptoms such as hot flashes, joint pain and anxiety, according to a national survey by Leger for the Menopause Foundation of Canada. “I think one of the reasons why it doesn’t get talked about is because it’s overwhelmingly viewed as negative,” Ko said. “It is shrouded in mystery and secrecy because it’s wrapped up in ageism.” Read the full story here.
Now for some good news to start your Monday: One day when his two-year-old son was looking at a tree, J.P. Marin began to imagine a time in the not-too-distant future when he’d be fielding questions like, why are leaves green? He wasn’t sure how to answer. He shared his musings with his wife and decided to make a list of other questions he also wanted to prepare some answers to — just in case his son ever asks. She suggested turning the endeavour into a book. It wasn’t something Marin had ever done before, but he’d always wanted to. That led the Saint John software engineer to write a new parents’ guide to answering a host of head-scratching questions of the kind very likely to come from curious kid minds. Read more here.
First Person: As a paramedic, I was put on the front line of strangers’ tragedy — and I felt it all
Kyle Meyer was always proud of the work he did as a paramedic in Nova Scotia. But the job also took a toll on his mental health. Read his column here.
Front Burner: Israel prepares to invade Gaza
A recap of the latest developments in Israel’s offensive in Gaza, a week after an unprecedented attack from Hamas.
Front Burner27:03Israel prepares to invade Gaza
Today in history: October 16
1820: After 36 years of separate status, Cape Breton Island becomes part of Nova Scotia again.
1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis begins as U.S. President John Kennedy is informed of bases in Cuba for Soviet ballistic missiles.
1970: The Canadian government invokes the War Measures Act following the kidnapping of British Trade Commissioner James Cross and Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte. It was the first use of the 1914 statute during a domestic crisis. Police made more than 400 arrests that day.
1984: Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu is named the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
