Whatever unfolds almost certainly won’t resemble what came down from the skies on Jan. 25 or its obstructive aftermath, but accumulating snow Sunday into Monday is looking more likely.
The National Weather Service on Friday listed a 90% chance of precipitation, with a 75% likelihood of two inches or more of snow for the immediate Philadelphia region, and about a one in three shot of at least six inches.
And add about a 100% chance of uncertainty regarding how this would play out, said Richard G. Bann, a forecaster with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center, in College Park, Md.
Computer models continued to show a wide range of outcomes from a storm that was still two days away from developing, ranging from a gentle snowfall to a school and road closer. Expect differences to persist.
In addition to snow, a potent storm with powerful onshore winds could result in coastal flooding, the weather service office in Mount Holly advised.
“I don’t think we would jump to either end of the extremes,” Bann said, “but we can’t say anything is completely out of the realm of possibility just yet.”
The storm would evolve from multiple moving parts before maturing off the Southeast coast, he added. “Part of the equation is starting to come together but we’re still not there yet.”
By Saturday, he said, “hopefully we’ll kind of know what part of the chessboard we’re working on.”
When snow might begin in the Philly region
Timing issues are among those likely to be fine-tuned in the next couple of days, but the early thinking is that snow, or rain changing to snow, would arrive in the Philly region Sunday morning or in the afternoon, continuing into Monday.
The intensity of the snow and winds would depend on the strength of the storm, precisely where over the ocean it ripens, and the eventual track.
The U.S. model has been bullish on bringing it close enough for a major snowfall along I-95. The other models, not so much, but the weather service noted that one of the balkers, the European, had come on board with at least light accumulations for the region.
“We’re definitely going to be spinning up an area of low pressure,” Bann said, “but exactly what that means for D.C., Philly — any of us — is still in question.”
But on the plus side: No ice is expected in this go-round.
So much for the remnants of Jan. 25
One of the most-stubborn snowpacks in the period of record, which has mutated into one of the uglier snowpacks in the period of record, should be pretty much erased by the time any flakes start falling Sunday.
Submerged objects have been reappearing, evoking a surfacing submarine, and bare ground is becoming ever more visible.
A decent, soaking rain on Friday — perhaps double Philly’s month total so far, a mere 0.25 inches — and temperatures in the 40s, combined with a sunny Saturday with high near 50 degrees, should pretty well clear the yards. Those plowed-snow mountains are likely to survive a while longer.
The snowpack’s tenacity had everything to do with the two to three inches of sleet — melt-resistant white ice — that fell atop the several inches of snow on Jan. 25. The entire mess was locked in by an Arctic freeze.
Bann endured similar conditions in his area, and recalled that it was way harder to move out of the way than the Mid-Atlantic mega-snows of February 2010, when 35 to 45 inches accumulated.
He said he shoveled awhile, took a break, and then was astonished to see that his neighbors were finishing his work.
Asked if he sent them any thank-you gifts, he replied: “I haven’t stopped.”
By 2019, after a decade of producing dozens of documentaries about Philadelphia history, the filmmakers at History Making Productions realized they had more than just the story of a city.
They had the story of America.
On Friday, the studio released its epic, new telling of that 400-year-old story: In Pursuit: Philadelphia and the Making of America. Directed by documentary filmmaker Andrew Ferrett and written by author and historian Nathaniel Popkin — and mixing modern footage with historical recreation and more than 600 on-camera interviews — the 10-episode series explores the history of America through the lens of Philadelphia, its birthplace.
Belinda Davis as Sarah Forten in “In Pursuit: Philadelphia and the Making of America.”
Timed to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, known as the Semiquincentennial, the series provocatively grapples with urgent questions, like how did the American experiment actually unfold? And how can it endure?
“Philadelphia is not just the birthplace of American democracy — it has been its proving ground,” said Sam Katz, series creator, executive producer, and founder of History Making Productions. “This series looks honestly at how ideals were formed, challenged, expanded, and sometimes betrayed, and why that history matters so urgently.”
‘A national moment’
Spanning 400 years of Philadelphia history, from its Indigenous roots to the MOVE Bombing the series is equal parts entertainment and civic project. Funded by Katz and philanthropies like Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Penn Medicine, and Lindy Communities, the series premiered at the National Constitution Center on Thursday.
Episode One is now streaming online. Katz and the filmmakers will host screenings and community conversations at Pennsbury Manor in Bucks County on Sunday, and another screening Feb. 26 at the Bok Building in South Philadelphia.
Throughout 2026, as the city and country celebrate the national milestone, a citywide “In Pursuit of History Film Festival” will promote each new installment with monthly screenings and public events. 6abc will air monthly hourlong shows to highlight new episodes.
Sam Katz at Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.
From the beginning, the project was meant to get people talking about the true meaning of the American experience, and those it has left behind.
“We’re going to get partners all over the city, and we’re going to have screenings all over the place,” said Katz, the civic-leader-turned-producer. “We’re going to create opportunities for people to come and meet the filmmakers, or meet a historian or an artist, who will then lead a conversation. It really is an opportunity for Philadelphia to take stock of itself.”
Popkin, who cofounded Hidden City Daily, said the project tells the story of events that shaped a city and a country founded on ideals not yet fully realized — and now as divided and tested as they’ve been in decades.
“The timing is perfect,” he said. “I think a film can really launch a lot of conversations. This is a moment for us as a nation.”
Fresh portals
Ferrett, who grew up in Bucks County, and has been directing and producing films at History Making Productions for more than 15 years, said the project revealed itself.
For earlier Philly projects — including The Great Experiment, an Emmy-award winning, 14-part docuseries spanning 500 years of Philly history, and Urban Trinity: The Story of Catholic Philadelphia — the filmmakers had amassed hundreds of unused hours of interviews with local and national historians, artists, and cultural leaders.
Over the years, much of it had to be left on the cutting room floor, including magical moments that Ferrett said opened fresh portals to Philly history.
“We talked to pretty much anyone you can imagine who was either involved with studying Philadelphia history, or in the case of 20th-century history, a lot of witnesses to it,” he said.
Poet Ursula Rucker during filming of “In Pursuit: Philadelphia and the Making of America.” The new 10-part docuseries examines the history of America through the story of Philadelphia.
Besides, he said, nowhere else could hold a better mirror to America than the place of its birth.
“It really became obvious to us that what we have here is much more than a local history,” he said. “It’s a history of the whole United States because so many consequential moments that shaped the country’s history went through Philadelphia.”
History that feels alive
Setting out to tell the story anew, Katz raised money to shoot updated interviews and fresh historical recreations.
Meanwhile, history did not slow down, from the COVID-19 pandemic, to the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movements, to Trump, and immigration crackdowns.
“We were asking how do we deal with history while all this is happening,” Katz said. “We were writing about it right now.”
Cecil B. Moore and Martin Luther King Jr. in footage from “In Pursuit: Philadelphia and the Making of America.”
Narrated in a warm, resonant baritone by actor Michael Boatman, known for roles in shows Spin City and The Good Wife, In Pursuit is no dull, black-and-white history. The city feels alive, the stakes serious and undecided.
Threading modern-day footage of bustling Philly streetscapes and soaring neighborhood shots with commentary and historical recreations imprints the series with a powerful immediacy.
The story stretches far beyond 1776, though the dramatic details of that sweltering summer in Philadelphia are recounted in episode three in gripping scenes of refreshingly believable historical recreations.
“We were able to shoot these lush and full reenactments,” said Ferrett, of all 10 episodes. “Sam was always like, ‘Where’s the dirt? I don’t want to see people with perfect teeth and smiling.’”
The start
Episode One, “Freedom (to 1700),” begins at the beginning, pulling no punches as it tells the story of the Lenape people, Philadelphia’s earliest Indigenous settlers — and of the generations of Dutch and other European colonists’ efforts to eradicate them through violence and disease.
It surprises even in the telling of William Penn, recounting how the rebellious aristocrat’s nonconformist ways landed him in jail more than once, before he founded a City of Brotherly Love meant to be a better world, and a testing ground of the most advanced ideals in Europe.
The episode also showcases what Ferrett describes as “deepeners,” when the story cuts away from the arc of history for moments of reflection from modern Philly voices.
“We all feel it here … it’s all in our bloodstream,” poet Ursula Rucker says in the episode. “What does this city mean to me? Everything. Everything.”
In the wake of the U.S. Bicentennial, in which Philadelphia was at the center of a yearlong celebration of the country’s 200th birthday, one of the city’s contributions to public health was put on the chopping block.
On Feb. 15, 1977, city officials confirmed that Mayor Frank Rizzo was closing Philadelphia General Hospital.
The poorhouse
Philadelphia General Hospital traced its lineage back to 1729, predating even therevered Pennsylvania Hospital, which was founded in 1751 andis generally considered the nation’s first chartered hospital.
Philadelphia General Hospital was originally established at 10th and Spruce Streetsas an almshouse, also known as an English poorhouse.
“The institution reflected the idea that communities assume some responsibility for those unable to do so themselves,” Jean Whelan, former president of the American Association for the History of Nursing, wrotein 2014.
The almshouse was used as housing for the poor and elderly, as well as a workhouse. It also provided some psychiatric and medical care.
It moved in the mid-1800s into what was then Blockley Township, atwhat is now 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard, and began offering more traditional medical services. The Blockley Almshouse’s barrage of patients and their variety of maladies helped it naturally grow into a teaching tool for nursing and medical students.
And by turn of the 20th century, it had become a full-blown medical center, made official by its new name: Philadelphia General Hospital.
But it held onto its spirit.
Its doors were open to anyone who needed care, no matter that person’s race, ethnicity, class, or income.
Healthcare was a given. Workers saw it as a responsibility.
Even if it wasn’t always the best care.
Poor health
The hospital relied on tax dollars, and as a result was often short on staffing and low on supplies. It was a source of political corruption, scandal,and discord among its melting pot of patients.
Patients in the hallways of Philadelphia General Hospital in the 1940s.
Eventually, it collapsed under the weight of its mission.
Its facilities became outdated, its services could not keep up, and its role as educator was outsourced to colleges and universities.
Philadelphia General Hospital’s closure left a gaping hole in available services in West Philadelphia. It was no longer there to help support the uninsured.
Before it officially closed in June 1977, it was considered the oldest tax-supported municipal hospital in the United States.
“There’s a common misunderstanding that PGH recently has become a poor people’s hospital,” said Lewis Polk, acting city health commissioner, in 1977. “It’s always been a poor people’s hospital. The wealthy never chose to go there.”
Its old grounds are now occupied by several top-rated facilities, including Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania medical campus.
A historical marker there notes Philadelphia General Hospital’s nearly 250 years of service to the community.
Think you know your news? There’s only one way to find out. Welcome back to our weekly News Quiz — a quick way to see if your reading habits are sinking in and to put your local news knowledge to the test.
Question 1 of 10
This iconic Philly sculpture has been temporarily removed from its perch at Sister Cities Park so it can be restored by original artist Robert Indiana’s foundation after years of UV and weather exposure.
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Indiana’s AMOR sculpture was removed on Wednesday for conservation and restoration. The sculpture was transported to Fine Finishes Painting Studio in Peekskill, NY, where conservators approved by the Robert Indiana Foundation will strip and repaint it. It’ll be back in May.
Question 2 of 10
After 96 years, Pat’s King of Steaks is changing how it makes cheesesteaks and is offering a new ingredient option. What is it?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Owner Frank Olivieri said his father didn’t want seeded rolls. “But since my father unfortunately passed several weeks ago, I thought maybe it’s time to change up a little bit,” he said. Pat’s announced the “new school” seeded-roll option on Instagram as a limited-time offering, but Olivieri said it likely will be permanent. (Across the street, Geno’s still offers plain rolls only.)
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Question 3 of 10
What is the proposed replacement for the site of the Broad Street Diner, which continues to operate but has held demolition permits since 2022?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
On Tuesday, plans for a six-story Hyatt Studios hotel were posted on the Philadelphia Planning Commission’s website. The proposal includes 105 hotel rooms and 42 underground parking spaces. Hyatt Studios is a recently launched extended-stay brand of the larger hotel chain.
Question 4 of 10
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore the slavery exhibits that were removed from Philly’s President’s House. In her 40-page opinion, Judge Cynthia M. Rufe compared the federal government’s removal to this novel:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Rufe, a George W. Bush appointee, compares the federal government’s argument that it can unilaterally control the exhibits in national parks to the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s 1984, a novel about a dystopian totalitarian regime. The Trump administration has appealed. National Park employees began restoring the exhibit Thursday.
Question 5 of 10
Philadelphia bars Grace & Proper, Sonny’s Cocktail Joint, and WineDive, produce and serve this signature liqueur:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Ginjinha, a classic sour cherry Portuguese liqueur, is enjoyed in its home country across sidewalk-facing counters and to-go windows. In the Philly area, you’ll be hard-pressed to find it at most establishments — except for the bars owned and operated by Chris Fetfatzes’ Happy Monday Hospitality: Sonny’s on South Street, Grace & Proper in Bella Vista, and WineDive in Rittenhouse.
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For the 800th episode of The Simpsons, the show showcased Philadelphia and parodied National Treasure. Which Philly-tied celebrity was not featured in the episode?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
When Homer Simpson and his family arrive in Philly, passing a welcome sign calling the city “The Big Scrapple,” a hotel concierge played by Kevin Bacon greets them. “We offer 24-hour room service from our full Boyz to Menu. If you need a wooder or any other jawn just ring the Patti LaBelle and we’ll send a jabroni right up,” he said. Quinta Brunson, Questlove, and The Roots were featured in the episode. Boyz II Men also contributed their own version of The Simpsons theme song for the episode.
Question 7 of 10
The Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association is pushing for Philly bars to stay open until 4 a.m. (instead of 2 a.m.), special for the FIFA World Cup. To change the closing time for bars, what would have to happen?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Any changes to bar closing times would have to come from new legislation, as the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board does not have the authority to change the liquor code to allow bars to sell alcohol after 2 a.m. No legislation on keeping Philly bars open later has been introduced yet.
Question 8 of 10
The nation’s oldest chartered hospital — Pennsylvania Hospital’s Pine Building — will become Philadelphia’s newest museum. It was originally founded by physician Thomas Bond and this historic figure:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Benjamin Franklin and Bond established a medical institution to treat the physically and mentally ill for free. The hospital’s Pine Building, which started construction in 1755, will be converted to the Pennsylvania Hospital Museum, Penn announced on Monday. It’s scheduled to open to the public on May 8.
Question 9 of 10
While Morey’s Piers’ iconic Ferris wheel is undergoing much-needed renovations in the South Philadelphia Navy Yard, thieves snuck into a temporary work site at the Wildwood theme park to steal mechanical components valued at more than $175,000 from the beloved ride. How tall is the Ferris wheel?
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
The Giant Wheel, a 156-foot LED-lit Ferris wheel and one of the tallest at the Jersey Shore, is disassembled, repaired, and repainted regularly, but this year’s renovation required transportation to the Navy Yard to work on its 16,000-pound centerpiece.
Question 10 of 10
Narberth artist Emily Stewart is making “ephemeral” public art out of this commonly accessible medium:
CorrectIncorrect. XX% of other readers got this question right.
Stewart is making intricate temporary sculptures out of snow, transforming her neighborhood into a temporary, open-air gallery. She carves sculptures and intricate figures out of the snow. She describes it as a way to foster community.
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During a talkby an Israeli journalist at Haverford College earlier this month, a group of about a dozen masked people sat and stood in the audience.
At one point, one of them began shouting through a bullhorn, “Death to IOF,” or Israeli Occupying Forces, a name critics use to refer to Israel Defense Forces,and “Shame,” according to a video of the incident and people who attended the event. The protesters’ faces were covered by masks or keffiyehs, a symbol of Palestinian identity.
“When Gaza has burned, you will all burn, too,” the protester shouted at the audience of about 180 people, many of them members of the local Jewish community, according to another video viewed by The Inquirer.
An audience member grabbed at the bullhorn and appeared to make contact with the protester as the protester yelled in his face, according to a video. The college’s campus safety personnel ejected both the bullhorn user and the audience member and has since banned both from campus, college officials said, noting that neither is an employee, student, or alumnus of Haverford.
The event sparked renewed charges of antisemitism on the highly selective liberal arts campus, which already is under scrutiny by a Republican-led congressional committee for its handling of antisemitism complaints and is the subject of an open investigation by the U.S. Department of Education.
It will also lead to changes in Haverford’s policies. In a message to the campus after the event, president Wendy Raymond — who faced intense questioning from the congressional committee about the school’s response to antisemitism last year — said “shouting down a speaker whom one does not agree with is never acceptable and stands outside of our shared community values.”
College officials acknowledged that Haverford needs to upgrade its event policies andsaid changes would be rolled out no later than after spring break.
Some people who attended the event to hear journalist Haviv Rettig Gur said they were afraid because they did not know who the masked attendees were or what they had in their belongings, and in light of recent mass violence at Jewish events around the world.
“I was scared to walk back to my car by myself, which is the only time I ever felt that way in Lower Merion, where I live,” said Susan Taichman, a resident of Bala Cynwyd, who was in the audience.
Barak Mendelsohn,professor of political science at Haverford College
Several students in attendance that night said most of the protesters sat or stood silently during the event — which is permitted under campus policy.
“I went into that event not with hatred for Jewish people, as some … have claimed was the intention of the protesters at the event,” said one Haverford student protester who asked that her name be withheld for safety reasons. “I went in with love, empathy, and deep concern for the Palestinians experiencing abhorrent amounts of violence in their homeland, as well as an understanding of the historical contexts that led to this violence, including the historic persecution of Jewish people that led to the development of Zionist thought.
“This context, in my opinion, is not an excuse for the genocide. It’s something really tragic that is going on, and I feel really strongly that it has to be stopped.”
Cade Fanning, the associate editor of the Clerk, Haverford’s student newspaper, cited three interruptions by protesters. One early on argued with Gur for an extended period, followed by the bullhorn incident less than an hour into the event, and then some banging on doors and yelling outside the room, said Fanning, 21, a senior history major from Annapolis, who attended the event.
Haverford professor Barak Mendelsohn, who helped organize the nearly three-hour event and has complained about the college’s handling of antisemitism in the past, said attendees were terrified as disruptions continued.
“I can’t tell you how ashamed I am as one of the organizers,” said Mendelsohn, an Israeli-born professor of political science and a terrorism scholar.
Leaders of Haverford’s students’ council, meanwhile, voiced concerns that an audience member had initiated physical contact with the protester, “which deeply frightened and disturbed members of Students’ Council,” they wrote. “We believe it is paramount to prioritize the safety of members of our college community. Actions like this have no place in our community.”
Some community members also interrupted and “heckled” protesters, Fanning said, adding that Gur belittled the activists as “children” who did not know enough about the world. The college, Fanning said, should have addressed that in its statement to the community.
“It would have been beneficial had they at least acknowledged that he wasn’t the most conducive to respectful, honest, open debate either,” Fanning said of Gur. “He didn’t treat the students with the most respect.”
But Anna Braun, 21, a senior English major from New York City who attended the event, said she was impressed with how Gur handled the protesters.
“He decided to engage with them one on one to really ask them questions and try to deconstruct why they were protesting,” she said. “The only way we can have any hope for peace is for people to listen to each other and to find some middle ground. And if you’re ignoring each other or if you are interrupting each other, then there is no potential for seeing eye to eye.”
An effort to ensure safe events
“It has become clear that there are gaps in how events are reviewed, supported, and managed on campus,” Raymond said in her message to campus. “We are actively revising our event management and space use policies to improve clarity and processes.”
Wendy Raymond, president of Haverford College, testifies before the House Committee on Education and Workforce hearing on antisemitism on American campuses on May 7, 2025.
The new policy, she said, “will clarify expectations for different types of events, strengthen coordination among College offices, and establish additional planning and support for events that require heightened attention.”
Factors such as “significant attendance or operational complexity, heightened public visibility, safety, security, or crowd-management considerations, media presence or external participation, and increased likelihood of disruption or protest activity” may trigger the need for additional review to determine whether more resources are needed, said Melissa Shaffmaster, Haverford’s vice president for marketing and communication.
“Our intention … is not in any way to restrict free speech or restrict access for different speakers or topics to be discussed on campus,” she said. “We want to make sure that the proper resources are allocated so events can happen safely, people can have really thoughtful discourse, and these events can go off the way they are intended.”
The indoor use of bullhorns violated the school’s “expressive freedom” policy put in place last spring, she said.
The college is participating in the Hillel Campus Climate Initiative, touted as an effort to help college leaders counter antisemitism. A survey “to better understand the current climate for Jewish students” will be part of the effort.
Haverford also is preparing for a major change in leadership. Raymond said in November she would step down as president in June 2027; John McKnight, the dean of the college, also announced he would be leaving at the end of this semester for a new role at Dartmouth College; and the college’s vice president for institutional equity and access also will exit that post in May.
‘The howling cry of an uneducated child’
Gur’s talk was titled “Roots, Return, and Reality: Jews, Israel, and the Myth of Settler Colonialism.” In an opinion piece for the Free Press after the talk, Gur said he had gone to Haverford to talk “about the Jewish history that forged Israeli identity.”
While he saw the audience “tense up” when protesters entered, he wrote, he saw it as “a chance to explore managing an encounter with the abusive ideologues.”
He said he invited protesters to stay, but told them they had to remove their masks, which they did not do. Most protesters remained for the entire talk, he said, some even crying and engaging in dialogue with him.
“The more I treated them like neglected children hungry for knowledge, the more likely they were to respond in healthy and productive ways,” he wrote.
The event was organized by Kevin Foley, a 1983 Haverford graduate. Foley said he was impressed with Gur, a political correspondent and senior analyst for the Times of Israel, after seeing a video of him teaching.
“I thought I could do something good for Haverford by having him teach there,” said Foley, who lives in Connecticut and New York City and spent his career running electronic trading businesses at Bloomberg and Cantor Fitzgerald.
Foley’s best friend was killed in the 9/11 attacks and he said he experienced Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel as an “echo trauma.” To see concerns at Haverford about its handling of antisemitism “was disappointing,” he said, and what happened at Gur’s talk reinforced those concerns.
“What I can’t believe is that Haverford has so abandoned its liberal values of academic freedom, freedom of inquiry, that it’s considered acceptable for protesters to come in and disrupt and shut down an educational class,” Foley said.
Foley called on the college to ban masks and have metal detectors available when needed, and to apologize to Gur’s audience.
Shaffmaster said the college’s policy allows people to wear masks, but they must remove them if they are asked by campus safety officers or administrators for identification purposes.
Ongoing tensions on campus
Several students in attendance, who asked not to be named because of tensions on campus over the issue, said they thought campus safety and the college handled the event as best they could without silencing either side.
“No matter what they had done, people would be mad at them,” one said.
Fanning, the student editor, understood why older community members may have been fearful, but said protesters also have fears of being harassed or doxed for their pro-Palestinian advocacy if their identity is known.
“They are not fearless themselves,” Fanning said. “Nobody is.”
But Mendelsohn, the professor, was disturbed that Haverford seemed to equate the actions of the audience member who grabbed the bullhorn with those of the protester.
“The person acted in self-defense and managed to get the bullhorn from her hands,” he said. “If someone turned to you with a microphone and screamed, you would not sit there and do nothing.”
Mendelsohn has been at the forefront of allegations that Haverford has not done enough to address antisemitism, and the college has investigated him for speaking out on social media and in emails, according to a lawsuit filed against the college last year by a Jewish group. Much of the complaint was dismissed, but the judge allowed a portion involving breach of contract that would result in nominal damages to proceed, and that is in mediation, court records show.
The actions at Gur’s speech were just one of several ongoing problems with antisemitism on the campus, Mendelsohn said. His mezuzah — an object signifying the Jewish faith — was stolen from his office door a couple of months ago, he said. And he referred to a bias complaint over comments made around funding for the Haverford Chabad board. That remains under review, the college said.
Braun, the English major, said that she was heartened to see improvement in Haverford’s handling of the Gur event and that the campus has been more welcoming to Jewish students. Most people she has spoken with, she said, did not think the use of the bullhorn was appropriate.
“That’s not something I would have heard two years ago on this campus,” she said. “I sincerely believe there is more of a desire to create an inclusive environment.”
Rudolph Blankenburg Elementary School in West Philadelphia serves kids with complex needs — and test scores reflect that.
The school, where nearly 95% of students are considered economically disadvantaged, had been a Comprehensive Support and Improvement school — a federally mandated designation for schools performing in the bottom 5% statewide.
But last fall, Blankenburg shed that label. Many students are still struggling but are making gains, teachers said — progress they fear will be threatened by a district proposal to close the schoolas part of a sweeping facilities plan.
“We’ve worked really hard, with a consistent staff and all types of resources in place, for our students to pull ourselves out of that status,” said Flori Thomas, a middle school science teacher at Blankenburg.
That’s her biggest fear, she said: “You’re going to impact our scholars.”
Blankenburg is one of 20 district schools proposed for closure under the plan released last month. Six other schools would be colocated and more than 150 modernized as part of the proposal — which is facing resistance from City Council.
District officials say closures are needed in a system that has lost more than 80,000 students over the last 30 years, many to charter schools. The district has struggled to fund repairs of aging buildings — including at Blankenburg, where staff report chipping paint and roof leaks.
Marquita Jenkins, the school’s dean of climate and culture, does not disagree that the building, which opened in 1925, needs repairs — or that it is underutilized. The K-8 school, which currently enrolls 278 students, has room for almost 600. Officials said the school’s enrollment has declined by about 100 students over the last four years.
But the relatively low enrollment has also enabled smaller class sizes, helping student growth, Jenkins said. A former fourth- and sixth-grade teacher at Blankenburg, she recalled teaching a class of 33 students, 11 of whom had individualized special education plans: “It was tough.” Classes now are smaller, she said.
Like other staff, she worried about where Blankenburg students would end up. The district proposes to reassign them to Edward Heston School, James Rhoads Elementary School, and a newly colocated Martha Washington Academics Plus School and Middle Years Alternative School.
Blankenburg‘s building near 46th and Girard, meanwhile, would be conveyed to the city for “affordable workforce housing and/or job creation,” according to the district.
Jenkins and other staff questioned the safety of the routes to schoolfor reassigned students.
They also voiced concern for particularly vulnerable students: Blankenburg is surrounded by at least seven homeless shelters and “tends to have attendance fluctuations,” assistant principal Sandra Pitts said at a virtual community meeting with district officials this month. She questioned how families would be “assisted to avoid further trauma.” (Officials said they would be supporting students with housing instability in placements.)
Staffers noted that Blankenburg also has a significant population of students with special needs, who make up 25% of its enrollment.
Among them is Sherell Robinson’s kindergartener, Illiyin, who has autism and medical complexities.
Robinson, who lives in West Philadelphia, said that Illiyin had been denied enrollment at other district schools, and that she was told she had to send her daughter to Blankenburg.
Robinson initially had a negative impression of Blankenburg but was impressed with the school’s principal, Sheena Wilson, who “didn’t try to sell me, or placate me” — just presented what the school had to offer, she said.
What Robinson found was a small environment, “loving people,” and a routine for Illiyin. Now she is panicked at the prospect of the school closing.
“For them to be taking this whole community away is really devastating,” Robinson said. “It takes time to find the correct programming and environment and teachers who are neuro-affirming, especially for Black children.”
A real estate agent, Robinson said there was an irony to the district’s plan to convert Blankenburg to workforce housing — something she believes she currently would qualify for. But if she does not find a stable school environment for her daughter, she isn’t sure she will be able to keep her job.
“They might look at me as a single case, but I can assure you I am not an anomaly,” said Robinson, who also works for a disability nonprofit and is in touch with other parents of autistic children. “This is going to affect how we can take care of our families, how that perpetuates what we’re already experiencing. … I don’t want to normalize that struggle to them.”
Teachers said they are committed to Blankenburg’s students. “We bring a lot of positivity and try to keep our kids safe,” said Jenkins, who has led field trips to places including the Kimmel Center in Center City and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.
Thomas, who grew up in the neighborhood around Blankenburg and now lives in New Jersey, said that whenever students learn about her commute, she tells them they are worth the drive.
Others outside the city see headlines about crime, Thomas said, but she tells students: “I see you.”
STRAITS OF FLORIDA — At 2 a.m., oceanographer Ryan Smith was headed into his 12th hour of work with little sleep when trouble started.
From the rear deck of the University of Miami’s research boat, he guided the vessel’s winch to lower a cage containing 14 long, gray tubes, collectively weighing about 1,000 pounds, hundreds of meters deep into the Atlantic Ocean, to record the temperature, salinity and density of the water. But after running smoothly for the first two-thirds of the trip, the sensors now suddenly stopped transmitting data.
There was no time for a hiccup. With urgency mounting, Smith signaled to bring the cage to the surface.
At sea, there is no helpline to call for a broken instrument at this hour (or any hour). If the team couldn’t fix it, they would need to make a 12-hour slog back to Miami through the fast-moving Florida Current — the precise subject they were trying to measure.
For 43 years, scientists have been studying the strength of the water flow between Florida and the Bahamas to learn what drives its changes over time. The information could help scientists answer a pressing question: Is the Florida Current, one of the world’s fastest ocean currents, slowing down? If so, it could indicate weakening of the larger circulation system in the Atlantic Ocean — what scientists call the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) — which could be disastrous.
Even Hollywood has imagined the harm that could result from a collapse of this system of currents, which acts like a conveyor belt as it transports water, nutrients, and heat through the Atlantic.
While scientists doubt the scenario sketched out in the 2004 movie The Day After Tomorrow, in which the AMOC’s failure prompts a calamitous ice age across the Northern Hemisphere, researchers say rain patterns could change or fail in Southeast Asia and parts of Africa, disease may spread to new populations, and temperatures would probably drop across Western Europe. Iceland has even declared that the risk of such a collapse is a national security threat.
But climate scientists are at odds over how soon, or whether, the circulation system may weaken. Researchers largely agree that the AMOC may weaken over this century as the world warms, but they differ on whether the system is already slowing down.
Direct observations of the AMOC’s and the Florida Current’s flow, velocity, temperature and salinity could help clarify this. The Florida Current, which helps shuttle water north, is a key component in calculating the system’s strength.
Traveling between Miami and the Bahamas, a crew from the University of Miami and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration homed in on the Florida Current, the world’s longest nearly continuously observed ocean current. Over 36 sleep-deprived hours, six researchers and seven crew members traversed the ocean, dove underwater, and collected gigabytes of measurements. These expeditions gather data that generations of scientists can use to better understand the state of our oceans — and humanity’s future.
Tyler Christian, a marine scientist, takes a photo of a waterspout during a research trip to collect data on the Florida Current.
The AMOC debate
For more than four decades, scientists have almost continuously measured water flow across the Florida Current, largely with the help of a decommissioned AT&T telecommunications cable running from West Palm Beach to Grand Bahama Island.
The telephone line wasn’t intended for ocean research, but NOAA scientists noted that it picked up tiny voltages induced by seawater flowing across the Florida Straits, which changed depending on the current’s flow.Using direct measurements of the waterway from research cruises, scientists can convert the voltages into the volume of water carried each second through the strait.
In 2005, British oceanographer Harry Bryden tapped these cable measurements and the limited available ship measurements in a seminal paper that suggested a possible slowdown in the AMOC between 1957 and 2004. Using data across the Atlantic Basin today, scientists have found that the AMOC varies, daily and seasonally, yet it also appears to have experienced a slight weakening over the past two decades.
But is it on a long-term decline because of human-induced planetary warming? Debatable.
At about 4 a.m., oceanographer Denis Volkov, right, checks in on Jay Hooper, who helps the team with data management
The Florida Current is one of the main forces that make up the western boundary of the AMOC. The warm Florida waters feed into the mighty Gulf Stream, which merges with the warm North Atlantic Current headed toward Europe. As the current reaches the Arctic, air temperatures cool the water, which becomes denser. The water sinks and moves south toward the equator, where it is again warmed by the sun and returns north.
“The role of the AMOC in the climate is it carries a huge amount of heat from the equator towards the poles,” said Denis Volkov, who is a co-principal investigator of NOAA’s Western Boundary Time Series project along with Smith.
But scientists say a warming world is throwing off this balance. As Arctic ice melts, freshwater enters the North Atlantic — making the ocean water less dense, so it is less likely to sink. As a result, scientists propose thatit cannot power the ocean conveyor belt as well, so less salty, warm water is getting transported northward.
A major shift in the Atlantic Ocean’s circulation could create severe drought in some areas and damaging floods in others. Sea level could rise by a foot or more along the U.S. East Coast if it collapsed.
Scientists have typically used data that indirectly hints at the current’s movement — such as sea surface or air temperature — to reconstruct the oceans in models and track whether the overall system is weakening, but they have reached mixed conclusions.
For instance, a 2018 study plugged sea surface temperatures into computer models to show that the AMOC is weakening. Then, a paper released last January reported no evidence of weakening over the past 60 years after examining data on heat exchanges between the air and the ocean called air-sea fluxes.
The dive boat takes scientists to a site to collect data on the Florida Current.
Volkov and his colleagues are helping approach the puzzle with observations. In 2024, they reassessed the cable data from the Florida Current, adjustingfor changes from Earth’s geomagnetic field. First, they found that the current had remained stable over the past four decades. Then, they updated calculations of the AMOC in this region, which has been monitored for only 20 years or so, with the corrected data and found that the AMOC wasn’t weakening as much as previously calculated at this latitude.
“But there is a caveat that observational data is very short,” said Volkov. He said scientists would need another 20 years of AMOC observations to determine if the small decline is a robust feature and not part of natural variability.
And the AMOC can still weaken even if the Florida Current remains strong, he said, since it is the sum of currents across the basin. But long-term changes in the Florida Current can serve as an indicator of trouble for the rest of the system.
One snag, said Volkov: The serendipitous cable that provided data for more than 40 years malfunctioned in 2023 — perhaps broke. Until it’s fixed, researchers are ramping up their diving operations to recover data from underwater acoustic barometers on the ocean floor.
Volkov, left, and Smith watch as a sampling instrument drops into the water.
The expedition
When the research vessel departed from the university’s dock around 4 a.m. on Sept. 3, the sun and most of the science staff were down for the night. A few shipmates gazed at the illuminated cityscapes from the stern deck, next to the diesel engine’s deep rumble. After traversing rocking waves, the crew reached scenic Bahamian waters eight hours later.
The green F.G. Walton Smith, 96 feet long, and its crewmake this overnight trip about six times a year, traveling 93 nautical miles diagonally from Miami toward the Little Bahama Bank. From there, they go west and collect data at nine sites from the boat and dive underwater at two others.
The team’s goal is to determine the amount of water flowing north through the Florida Current per second through a series of underwater instruments, from the boat and from satellites. They also collect temperature, salinity, density and velocity data; velocity and temperature, for example, can be combined to calculate the amount of heat transported across an area.
Chomiak, left, and Zach Barton, a technician and engineer, return from diving to the seafloor to place a data-collection instrument.
At the first dive site, a remora — a long, torpedo-shaped suckerfish — circled the two scuba divers less than a mile from the boat. The slender fish is known for a unique fin on its head that suctions itself to sharks, whales, and turtles to feed off their detritus. And for a quick moment, it latched onto Leah Chomiak’s head. And her thigh.
Chomiak focused on the barometer in front of her. Her bulky gloves made it harder to use a screwdriver 50 feet below the Bahamian surface. She and her fellow diver held onto the long tubes that had been recording data every five minutes for the previous two months, since the last time divers brought the instruments to the surface and downloaded the data.
“Now we decided to service them more frequently, because, at the moment, this is the only source of data for our Florida Current transport estimates,” Volkov said. The scientists can use the pressure data to help calculate the amount of water flowing through the area.
Next, the ship arrived at the first of nine hydrographic stations andlowered a cage of sensors known as a CTD-rosette sampler (CTD stands for conductivity, temperature and depth, although it measures many more properties). Researchers can use the temperature and salt concentrations of a particular mass of water to infer where it came from and how it reaches other parts of the world.
Christian takes a quick nap in the galley as the vessel travels back to Miami.
Jay Hooper, who has been on these trips for 10 years and helps with data management, sat at the ship’scomputer station.
“Ready whenever you are,” he said into his headset.
From the top deck, the captain lowered the rosette into the water, dropping 60 meters each minute. As the instruments approached the bottom at 486 meters, Hooper said to slow down.
Lines of various colors — representing salinity, temperature, and density — squiggled down on Hooper’s computer screen as the sensors dropped. Temperature decreased and density increased as the instruments descended. Seventeen minutes later, the rosette was brought back onto the boat.
After hours of gathering data, Hooper and Smith hit a snag at the seventh station. The rosette now wasn’t sending any information to the computer. Was it human error? Did the instrument break?
The two tried different solutions as the other scientists slept. Then they replaced the sensors’ cable, andas they lowered the rosette, data filled the computer screen.
The boat stopped for the last dive near the Florida coast to retrieve the second set of underwater acoustic barometers. But the water was so cloudy, thick and green that the divers couldn’t see their hands, so they decided they would try on the next trip.
Captain John Cramer pilots the vessel back to the university.
For the next 12 hours, the boat fought against the Florida Current to take the crew home. Some aboard mustered up energy to sing “Happy Birthday” to one of the crew members.
The next morning, Smith and his colleagues processed the data to upload to NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory website. There were no notes about a cable malfunction, encounters with remoras or sleep deprivation.
The Excel spreadsheet had a single note for each station it recorded: “Profile looks good; use these data.”
The woman, then battling an addiction to heroin, said she sought help at the Opioid Crisis Action Network, a beacon of hope for those struggling with substance abuse disorder in Delaware County.
But instead of providing compassionate care, Larry Arata, the nonprofit’s founder, offered her gift cards in exchange for oral sex in his car in 2024, the woman testified Thursday in a Delaware County courtroom.
The experience traumatized her, she said, and within a month she had dropped out of recovery and overdosed.
“I was still on heroin, and I needed help,” the woman said, her voice breaking as she recalled the encounter. “I didn’t expect to have to do that.”
As she spoke, Arata, 65, sat in the courtroom for a preliminary hearing in a sweeping prostitution and trafficking case that Delaware County prosecutors brought against him late last year.
He has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyers said Thursday that they would present a robust defense at trial.
In emotional testimony, six women took the stand and accused Arata of criminal behavior. The Inquirer is not naming the women because the newspaper does not identify victims of sex crimes without their permission
One woman said Arata hired her to clean the Opioid Crisis Action Network’s office as she was trying to get sober. Almost immediately, she said, he began complimenting her appearance. Eventually, they began having sex in Arata’s private office at the nonprofit and at a nearby hotel, she said, where he sneaked her in a back door.
Afterward, she said, Arata would give her a $300 paycheck, as well as extra cash and gift cards.
Other women who sought the Action Network’s help said Arata made comments about their appearance and offered them financial incentives after sexual encounters in parks, hotels, and in one case, his father’s home.
Arata founded the Opioid Crisis Action Network after his son died of an overdose in 2017, and he became something of a figurehead for issues surrounding addiction in the suburban county.
But Arata abused his position of influence, prosecutors said in November as they charged him with multiple counts of trafficking, patronizing prostitutes, promoting prostitution, obstruction, and one count of harassment.
They said Arata twisted his nonprofit’s mission, using cash, gift cards, and rent payments to elicit sex from vulnerable women who relied on him for help.
In one case, a woman testified that Arata told after a sexual encounter that “secrets are meant to be kept.” Others said he worried that his wife would find out about the sexual encounters and asked them to delete sexually explicit images they had texted him.
And one woman — who said Arata had cornered her in his office and tried to kiss her — said that when he later learned that she had spoken to county investigators about the incident, called her a liar and told her to recant.
Arata’s attorneys did not call any witnesses. They told the judge their client’s alleged behavior did not meet the legal standards for many of charges against him, including trafficking and obstruction.
After hearing nearly four hours of testimony, Delaware County Court Judge Benjamin Johns said prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence for all charges against Arata to stand.
Brandi McLaughlin, an attorney for Arata, told reporters that her team would try the case in a “courthouse, not the media.”
NEW YORK — A man who fatally beat four sleeping men on the streets of New York City’s Chinatown was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder, with a jury rejecting his insanity defense in the 2019 rampage.
But the lawyers contended that he was too mentally ill to be held criminally responsible. They said he was driven by schizophrenic delusions that made him believe he had to kill 40 people or would die himself.
Prosecutors countered that Santos took steps, such as sometimes looking out for potential witnesses, and made remarks that showed that he knew that the October 2019 attacks were both illegal and immoral.
“A jury determined that Randy Santos knowingly and purposefully murdered four men with a metal bar in the span of less than 30 minutes. They were strangers to him and simply happened to be sleeping on Chinatown sidewalks that horrific night,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. Jurors, who had deliberated for less than a day, declined to comment.
Santos, 31, showed no reaction as he heard the verdict, through headphones that allowed him to listen to a Spanish-language interpreter. The Legal Aid Society, which represented Santos, said it would appeal.
“There is no dispute that Randy has suffered for years from schizophrenia, including on the nights of these tragic events,” the group said in a statement.
Also convicted of attempted murder and assault charges that include a September 2019 attack, Santos faces a potential life sentence. Sentencing is set for April 16.
The killings spurred scrutiny of the city’s struggles to aid and protect a homeless population that had reached record size. Then-Mayor Bill de Blasio said the violence shook “the conscience of who we are as New Yorkers.”
Kok, 83, was a former restaurant worker who had lost his bearings after his wife died and his church closed. Manson, 49, helped establish a Pentecostal church in Mississippi years ago and later made videos and blogged about his thoughts on Scripture, psychology and societal issues.
Vásquez Villegas, 55, was a factory worker whose family said he had a home on Staten Island and just apparently fell asleep in Chinatown, where he liked to pass the time with friends. Moran, 39, was a onetime aspiring boxer who had formed friendships with other men who lived on the streets, according to Spectrum News/NY.
Karlin Chan, a Chinatown community activist who knew Manson and raised money for a headstone for Kok, called the verdict “the best outcome.” Having followed the case in court, he was unpersuaded by Santos’ insanity defense: “A lot of people hear voices” and never hurt anyone, Chan noted.
The Dominican-born Santos came to New York as a young man to live with relatives. They ultimately kicked him out because of his erratic and violent behavior, including an assault on his grandfather. New York police arrested him at least six times over the years on charges that included physically attacking people on a subway train, at an employment agency and in a homeless shelter.
Santos was diagnosed with schizophrenia before the killings but didn’t take his prescribed medication or go for treatment, his lawyers said.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Alfred Peterson maintained that Santos “knew exactly what he was doing that night, despite his mental illness.”
In a closing argument, Peterson said Santos carried out the September 2019 beating as a “trial run” and showed awareness of wrongdoing when he shed some clothing afterward. At one point brandishing the rusted metal bar that was used in the killings on Oct. 5, 2019, the prosecutor stressed that Santos briefly held off attacking some of the victims until a passerby was out of eyeshot. And, Peterson noted, the defendant told a prosecution psychiatrist in 2024: “I know it’s not a good action.”
Santos’ attorneys said that while he might have realized he could get arrested, schizophrenia made him unable to appreciate that what he was doing was morally wrong — a factor that can be enough to support an insanity defense.
A defense psychologist testified that Santos believed that if other people experienced the commanding voices in his head, they would do the same thing he did.
“He believed, sincerely, he had to kill 40 people or be killed,” one of his Legal Aid lawyers, Arnold Levine, said in his summation. “Psychosis replaced Randy’s moral judgment.”
While lauding the pledges, Trump faces the unresolved challenge of disarming Hamas, a sticking point that threatens to delay or even derail the Gaza ceasefire plan that his administration notched as a major foreign policy win.
The dollars promised, while significant, represent a small fraction of the estimated $70 billion needed to rebuild the territory decimated after two years of war between Israel and Hamas. While Trump praised allies for making the commitments of funding and troops, he offered no detail on when the pledges would be implemented.
“Every dollar spent is an investment in stability and the hope of new and harmonious [region],” Trump said. He added, “The Board of Peace is showing how a better future can be built right here in this room.”
Trump also announced the U.S. was pledging $10 billion for the board but didn’t specify what the money will be used for. It also was not clear where the U.S. money would come from — a sizable pledge that would need to be authorized by Congress.
The board was initiated as part of Trump’s 20-point plan to end the conflict in Gaza. But since the October ceasefire, Trump’s vision for the board has morphed and he wants it to have an even more ambitious remit — one that will not only complete the Herculean task of bringing lasting peace between Israel and Hamas but also help resolve conflicts around the globe.
But the Gaza ceasefire deal remains fragile, and Trump’s expanded vision for the board has triggered fears the U.S. president is looking to create a rival to the United Nations.
Trump, pushing back against the criticism, said the creation of his board would help make the U.N. viable in the future.
“Someday I won’t be here. The United Nations will be,” Trump said. “I think it is going to be much stronger, and the Board of Peace is going to almost be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly.”
Even as Trump spoke of the gathering as a triumph that would help bring a more persistent peace to the Middle East, he sent new warnings to Iran.
One aircraft carrier group is already in the region and another is on the way. Trump has warned Tehran it will face American military action if it does not denuclearize, give up ballistic missiles and halt funding to extremist proxy groups, such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
“We have to make a meaningful deal. Otherwise bad things happen,” Trump said.
Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, and Albania made pledges to send troops for a Gaza stabilization force, while Egypt and Jordan committed to train police.
Troops will initially be deployed to Rafah, a largely destroyed and mostly depopulated city under full Israeli control, where the U.S. administration hopes to first focus reconstruction efforts.
The countries making pledges to fund reconstruction are Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait, Trump said.
Maj. Gen. Jasper Jeffers, leader of the newly created international stabilization force, said plans call for 12,000 police and 20,000 soldiers for Gaza.
“With these first steps, we help bring the security that Gaza needs for a future of prosperity and enduring peace,” Jeffers said.
Some U.S. allies remain skeptical
Nearly 50 countries and the European Union sent officials to Thursday’s meeting. Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom are among more than a dozen countries that have not joined the board but took part as observers.
Most countries sent high-level officials, but a few leaders — including Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Argentine President Javier Milei, and Hungarian President Viktor Orbán — traveled to Washington.
“Almost everybody’s accepted, and the ones that haven’t, will be,” Trump offered. ”And some are playing a little cute — it doesn’t work. You can’t play cute with me.”
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin told reporters this week that “at the international level, it should above all be the U.N. that manages these crisis situations.” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said in a post on X that the European Commission should never have attended the meeting as it had no mandate to do so.
More countries are “going through the process of getting on,” in some cases, by getting approval from their legislatures, Trump told reporters later Thursday.
“I would love to have China and Russia. They’ve been invited,” Trump said. “You need both.”
Official after official used their speaking turns at the gathering to heap praise on Trump for his ability to end conflicts. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called him the “savior of South Asia,” while others said that years of foreign policy efforts by his predecessor failed to do what Trump has done in the past year.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Trump and others there deserved thanks for their collective efforts on Gaza. But Fidan, who said Turkey also was prepared to contribute troops to the stabilization force, cautioned that the situation remains precarious.
“The humanitarian situation remains fragile and ceasefire violations continue to occur,” Fidan said. “A prompt, coordinated and effective response is therefore essential.”
Questions about disarming Hamas
Central to Thursday’s discussions was assembling an international stabilization force to keep security and ensure the disarming of the militant Hamas group, a key demand of Israel and a cornerstone of the ceasefire deal.
Hamas has provided little confidence that it is willing to move forward on disarmament. The administration is “under no illusions on the challenges regarding demilitarization” but has been encouraged by what mediators have reported back, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a dusty army base in southern Israel, repeated his pledge that “there will be no reconstruction” of Gaza before demilitarization. His foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said during Thursday’s gathering that “there must be a fundamental deradicalization process.”
Trump said Hamas has promised to disarm and would be met “very harshly” if it fails to do so. But he gave few details on how the difficult task would be carried out.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged that there is a “long ways to go” in Gaza.
“There’s a lot of work that remains that will require the contribution of every nation state represented here today,” Rubio said.
