what is the thesis for escaping salem

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Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692

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Few events in American history are as well remembered as the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. But there was another witch hunt that year, in Stamford, Connecticut, that has never been examined in depth. Now Richard Godbeer describes this "other witch hunt" in a concise, fascinating narrative that illuminates the colonial world and shatters the stereotype of early New Englanders as quick to accuse and condemn. That stereotype originates with Salem, which was in many ways unlike other outbreaks of witch-hunting in the region. Drawing on eye-witness testimony, Godbeer tells the story of Kate Branch, a seventeen-year-old afflicted by strange visions and given to blood-chilling wails of pain and fright. Branch accused several women of bewitching her, two of whom were put on trial for witchcraft. The book takes us inside the courtroom--and inside the minds of the surprisingly skeptical Stamford townfolk. Was the pain and screaming due to natural causes, or to supernatural causes? Was Branch simply faking the symptoms? And if she was telling the truth, why believe the demonic sources of the information, who might well be lying? For the judges, Godbeer shows, the trial was a legal thicket. All agreed that witches posed a real and serious threat, but proving witchcraft (an invisible crime) in court was another matter. The court in Salem had become mired in controversy over its use of dubious evidence. In an intriguing passage, Godbeer examines Magistrate Jonathan Selleck's notes on how to determine the guilt of someone accused of witchcraft--an illuminating look at what constituted proof of witchcraft at the time. The stakes were high--if found guilty, the two accused women would be hanged. In the afterword, Godbeer explains how he used the trial evidence to build his narrative, an inside look at the historian's craft that enhances this wonderful account of life in colonial New England.

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• Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft

Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692 (review)

• Michael D. Bailey
• University of Pennsylvania Press
• Volume 3, Number 1, Summer 2008
• 10.1353/mrw.0.0102
• View Citation

Additional Information

• Rent from DeepDyve

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ESCAPING SALEM

The other witch hunt of 1692.

by Richard Godbeer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2004

Thoroughly instructive in the elemental, instinctual nature of witch hunts in any era.

The Stamford, Connecticut, witch trial is held up as far more typical of those conducted in late-17th-century New England than its immediate predecessor in Salem, Massachusetts.

His case bolstered by statistical summary, Godbeer (History/Univ. of Miami; The Devil’s Dominion , not reviewed) ably makes his key points: while most Puritan New Englanders were convinced that witchcraft was indeed a “practical” consideration whenever accusations arose—even from trivial neighborly disputes—they remained skeptical of evidence directed against individuals. Salem produced over 150 arrests and 19 death sentences for witchcraft, yet over 60 other proceedings in contemporary New England resulted in only 16 guilty verdicts; or, throwing out the four “confessions” (most likely obtained under some form of torture), a conviction rate of about 20 percent. However, the author stresses, the pervasiveness of “Old World” superstition in the culture was always just below the surface, waiting to be triggered by dire events—pestilence, crop failure, Indian raids—in an already stressful environment. Potential targets were in no short supply: Indians themselves were believed to be Devil worshipers, as were Quakers, particularly those in discrete villages or neighborhoods. But by far the most likely to be accused—80 percent of all recorded cases—were women; most men brought to trial, in fact, were there by association. Any woman who did not fulfill the Puritan role model, Godbeer asserts, was an eligible suspect: those who spoke out too brazenly or had reputations tainted by immorality, even those who were widowed or aged beyond the capacity to provide a man with the necessary “helpmeet,” tended to lie beyond the pale. “Puritan theology depicted witches as heretical servants of the devil,” Godbeer writes, yet the “rigorous and cautious” nature of the early Colonial legal system and its local magistrates kept vengeful hysteria at bay—most of the time.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-19-516129-7

Page Count: 208

Publisher: Oxford Univ.

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2004

HISTORY | UNITED STATES

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KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

The osage murders and the birth of the fbi.

by David Grann ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2017

Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.

Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.

During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann ( The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession , 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.

Pub Date: April 18, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017

GENERAL HISTORY | TRUE CRIME | UNITED STATES | FIRST/NATIVE NATIONS | HISTORY

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BOOK TO SCREEN

by Elie Wiesel & translated by Marion Wiesel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2006

The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...

Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children. 

He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions. 

Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006

ISBN: 0374500010

Page Count: 120

Publisher: Hill & Wang

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006

BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | HOLOCAUST | HISTORY | GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | GENERAL HISTORY

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by Elie Wiesel ; edited by Alan Rosen

by Elie Wiesel ; illustrated by Mark Podwal

by Elie Wiesel ; translated by Marion Wiesel

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Escaping Salem

Monday, October 18, 2010

Escaping salem (godbeer) analysis, 4 comments:.

if only justice were the true agenda behind our justice system great read, keep it up!

Hi, I am struggling to make a paper concerning witchcraft in New England, my teacher ask me...Identify and analyze the crucial ways in which the Salem accusations, evidence, judicial procedures and outcomes were the exception to the norm by comparing and contrasting the Stanford and Salem trials, using the primary documents from Salem and Stanford trials. I am expecting a comparative analysis of the documents. lecture material, Godbeer's Escaping Salem, and Godbeer's introduction to the document in his edited volume, The Salem Witch Hunt. Can you help me?

You should read the books your teacher assigned and compare them the differences are very clear not to mention the author of this blog just pointed the out a couple main differences between the salem and samford trials

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Escaping Salem

The other witch hunt of 1692.

• 3.9 • 15 Ratings

Publisher Description

The Salem witch hunt of 1692 is among the most infamous events in early American history; however, it was not the only such episode to occur in New England that year. Escaping Salem reconstructs the "other witch hunt" of 1692 that took place in Stamford, Connecticut. Concise and accessible, the book takes students on a revealing journey into the mental world of early America, shattering the stereotype of early New Englanders as quick to accuse and condemn. Drawing on eyewitness testimony, Richard Godbeer tells the story of Kate Branch, a seventeen-year-old afflicted by strange visions and given to blood-chilling wails of pain and fright. Branch accused several women of bewitching her, two of whom were put on trial for witchcraft. Escaping Salem takes us inside the Connecticut courtroom and into the minds of the surprisingly skeptical Stamford townspeople. Were the pain and screaming due to natural or supernatural causes? Was Branch simply faking the symptoms? And if she was indeed bewitched, why believe her specific accusations, since her information came from demons who might well be lying? For the judges, Godbeer shows, the trial was a legal thicket. All agreed that witches posed a real and serious threat, but proving witchcraft (an invisible crime) in court was another matter. The court in Salem had become mired in controversy over its use of dubious evidence. In an intriguing chapter, Godbeer examines Magistrate Jonathan Selleck's notes on how to determine the guilt of someone accused of witchcraft, providing an illuminating look at what constituted proof of witchcraft at the time. The stakes were high--if found guilty, the two accused women would be hanged. In the afterword, Godbeer explains how he used the trial evidence to build his narrative, offering an inside perspective on the historian's craft. Featuring maps, photos, and a selected bibliography, Escaping Salem is ideal for use in undergraduate U.S. survey courses. It can also be used for courses in colonial American history, culture, and religion; witchcraft in the early modern world; and crime and society in early America.

Customer Reviews

An eye opening read..

I’m not a person who’s even close an avid book reader, but I was told to read this book as a grade for a book review for my college history class, and this book did an amazing job of taking me through the process of the witch trials and explains important lessons to be learned from these accusations

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Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692 (New Narratives in American History) 1st Edition

Purchase options and add-ons.

• ISBN-10 9780195161304
• ISBN-13 978-0195161304
• Edition 1st
• Publisher Oxford University Press
• Publication date January 6, 2005
• Part of series New Narratives in American History
• Language English
• Dimensions 8 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Print length 200 pages
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• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0195161300
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (January 6, 2005)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 200 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780195161304
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195161304
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 1 year and up
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.4 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• #144 in Legal History (Books)
• #375 in U.S. Colonial Period History
• #4,204 in U.S. State & Local History

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21-year-old who escaped in February from MacLaren in custody, two youth still at large

A 21-year-old who escaped in February from MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn is being held at the Southwest Idaho Juvenile Detention Center in Caldwell, Idaho.

Xavier Swimm was serving a sentence for attempted assault 2 and aggravated harassment in Multnomah County.

The Oregon Youth Authority posted the update Thursday on its "Inside OYA " blog with no other details.

Two other youths from the Feb. 18 escape — Angel Diaz-Barrera and Julian Diaz-Navarro —remain at large and have warrants out for their arrest. They are both 19, half brothers, and from Salem. Diaz-Barrera was incarcerated at MacLaren for robbery 1 and carry-use of a dangerous weapon, and Diaz-Navarro for attempted assault 1 and carry/use of a dangerous weapon.

No details of the escape have been released by OYA, the state's juvenile justice agency. McLaren went on lockdown immediately after the escape while Oregon State Police investigated, and warrants were issued for their arrest.

An OYA spokesperson told the Statesman Journal that Swimm was arrested on the warrant after 9 p.m. Wednesday. He will be returned to Oregon, within the timeline dictated by the rules of the Interstate Compact for Juveniles .

The spokesperson said Swimm faces new adult escape charges. At what correctional facility he will be lodged in while awaiting the outcome of those charges is not known at this time.

Capi Lynn is a senior reporter for the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips to her at [email protected] , and follow her work on Twitter @CapiLynn and Facebook @CapiLynnSJ.

The best spot for 7 popular indoor activities in Winston-Salem, according to visitors' reviews

Posted: May 17, 2024 | Last updated: May 17, 2024

Best places for 7 popular indoor activities in Winston-Salem

When the sun is shining and temperatures are warm, it's not too difficult to get out of the house and find something to do, whether it's a simple walk around the block or a day trip to the beach. But when temperatures are lower or rain is trickling down your windows, you're probably more likely to stay inside—and that's true no matter your age.

A 2020 survey of about 1,000 people from the National Recreation and Park Association showed that 58% of U.S. adults are less active in the winter . Similarly, a 2016 study out of the University of Cambridge found that average activity levels among children dropped to their lowest levels in February at about 48 minutes per day compared to 65 minutes per day in April, the peak month for activity.

The good news is there are an increasing number of ways to get out and be active, no matter the season and no matter what level of activity you're looking for. There are the longtime staples to visit year-round, from an awe-inspiring and educational visit to an aquarium or planetarium to a culturally stimulating night at the theater to a trip down memory lane at the bowling alley. For the gamers among you—or for those nostalgic for the 1970s, '80s, and '90s—there's always laser tag or an afternoon at the arcade.

Those looking to exercise their minds a bit more than their muscles could try the more recent sensation: escape rooms, which started captivating Americans of all ages in the mid-2010s. Meanwhile, people who want to sweat it out a bit can try to get into the skyrocketing success of indoor rock climbing, the bouncing business of trampoline parks, and the more adult activity that is ax throwing.

To motivate you to try a new activity this weekend, weather notwithstanding, Stacker compiled a list of the best places for popular indoor activities in Winston-Salem using data from Yelp. Data is as of Feb. 21, 2024. Businesses were selected using Yelp's ranking system, which calculates an adjusted rating value that takes into account the number of ratings as well as the rating score itself.

Arcade: Northside Lanes

- Rating: 4.8/5 (8 reviews) - Address: 3550 North Patterson Ave. Winston-Salem, North Carolina - Categories: American, Bowling, Arcades - Read more on Yelp

Bowling: Bowlero Winston-Salem

- Rating: 1.5/5 (8 reviews) - Address: 811 Jonestown Road Winston-Salem, North Carolina - Categories: Bowling, Eatertainment, Venues & Event Spaces - Read more on Yelp

Rock climbing: FirstHand Climbing

- Rating: 5.0/5 (2 reviews) - Address: 1024 North Chestnut St. Winston-Salem, North Carolina - Categories: Rock Climbing - Read more on Yelp

Ax throwing: BATL Axe Throwing

- Rating: 4.8/5 (6 reviews) - Address: 109 West 9th St. Winston-Salem, North Carolina - Categories: Ax Throwing, Sports Bars, Team Building Activities - Read more on Yelp

Escape games: Total Escape

- Rating: 4.9/5 (35 reviews) - Address: 280 Charlois Blvd. Ste 200 Winston-Salem, North Carolina - Categories: Escape Games - Read more on Yelp

Theater: Reynolda House Museum of American Art

- Rating: 4.1/5 (33 reviews) - Address: 2250 Reynolda Road Winston-Salem, North Carolina - Categories: Museums, Performing Arts - Read more on Yelp

Trampoline park: Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park

- Rating: 3.2/5 (17 reviews) - Address: 200 Summit Square Blvd. Winston-Salem, North Carolina - Categories: Trampoline Parks - Read more on Yelp

This story features data reporting by Karim Noorani, writing by Jaimie Etkin, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 251 metros.

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Escaping Salem

34 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Key Figures

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

The Differing Modes of Knowledge

Throughout the text, different modes of knowledge are presented. One way this is present is through the differentiation between one’s role and one’s education, a concept that might feel quite strange in the modern era, in which education is meant to directly correlate to vocation, role, and authority. However, in Escaping Salem , we see first that Sarah Bates , who was not a physician, was nevertheless called upon to perform the duties of a doctor; later, we see that the magistrates were called upon to oversee trials, despite being untrained in legal philosophy and it being uncertain if they could even understand legal texts.

Additionally, a major theme of the text is what constitutes evidence and what does not. The magistrates differentiate between what’s strong enough for an indictment and what’s strong enough for a conviction, and it is suggested that the latter is much more rigorous. Indeed, much of what passes for evidence has either been discarded as quackery (e.g., ducking) or has been deemed insufficient for a conviction (e.g., misfortune following a quarrel). This calls into question our own understanding of objective knowledge, a question that is a theme of the modern era, as well—what constitutes strong evidence? How do we know what, or whom, to trust?

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Escaping Salem

Richard godbeer, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Middle East Crisis Blinken Says Rafah Fighting Threatens Aid Gains in Gaza

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• An injured Palestinian on a horse-pulled cart in Gaza City. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• An Israeli tank near the border with Gaza. Amir Cohen/Reuters
• A West Bank observance of the Nakba, the mass displacement of Palestinians during the establishment of Israel. Nasser Nasser/Associated Press
• Destroyed buildings in Gaza City. Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
• Displaced Palestinians fleeing Rafa. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• Palestinians returning to Gaza City Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
• A memorial at a fountain in Tel Aviv for victims of the Oct. 7 attacks . Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Gaza aid gains may be lost as fighting rages in Rafah, the U.S. secretary of state says.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken warned on Wednesday that recent gains in getting desperately needed humanitarian aid to people in the Gaza Strip risked being undone by the fighting in southern Gaza.

For over a week, since Israel began what it describes as a limited military operation against Hamas in the southern city of Rafah, one border crossing vital to the transit of the aid has been closed, and another severely restricted.

“At the very time when Israel was taking important and much needed steps to improve the provision of humanitarian assistance,” Mr. Blinken said, “we’ve seen a negative impact on the fact that we have this active, very active conflict in the in the Rafah area.”

He noted that “we also seen Hamas firing at the crossings themselves, making it also more difficult.”

Mr. Blinken’s comments came as Israel and Egypt traded blame over the continued closure of the crossing between Egypt and Gaza nearly 10 days after the Israeli army took over the Gazan side.

Hundreds of trucks in Egypt have been blocked from reaching Gaza, and wounded and ill people in Gaza who need medical care outside the territory, as well as families trying to escape the war, have been unable to leave.

Humanitarian officials say the closure of the entry point has exacerbated an already devastating aid situation, with prices for many food items surging and fuel becoming scarce.

Israeli forces seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing at the Egyptian border as part of what they have described as a limited military operation against Hamas. The raid effectively closed the crossing, though Israeli officials have signaled they are willing to reopen it.

Israel had shut down another crossing — Kerem Shalom — after a Hamas rocket attack nearby killed four Israeli soldiers. It has since reopened, but the aid getting through is still very limited. Egypt, where most of the aid for Gaza is collected and loaded, has resisted sending trucks toward Kerem Shalom, according to multiple officials . American and Israeli officials believe that Egypt is trying to put pressure on Israel to pull back from the Rafah operation.

Israel has accused Egypt of holding up the delivery of aid. Egypt has blamed Israel for the fighting around the border that has created dangerous conditions for aid deliveries to take place. There has been intense bombardment and fighting around Rafah since last week.

Israel Katz, Israel’s foreign minister, said on Tuesday that he had spoken to European foreign ministers about the “need to persuade Egypt” to allow the “continued delivery of international humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

“The key to preventing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now in the hands of our Egyptian friends,” he said . He said that Israel would not return the crossing to what he described as Hamas’s control.

Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister, quickly pushed back, saying that the crossing was still closed because of Israel’s control over it, and because its military operations were putting truck drivers and aid workers in danger. In a statement from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Mr. Shoukry rejected what he described as “the policy of twisting facts.”

Israeli officials rarely make public criticisms of Egypt, with which Israel maintains a decades-old peace treaty and sensitive security cooperation.

Defying international pressure, Israel launched a limited invasion of Rafah on May 6, taking over areas in the east. Even if trucks were allowed to pass through the Rafah crossing, it was not clear if they could safely navigate through eastern Rafah, where Israeli forces have been fighting Hamas militants.

Israel recently opened two new routes for aid trucks to enter northern Gaza directly.

“We’re also seeing real progress in the north, where more is coming through,” Mr. Blinken said. “But what we don’t want to see is a situation where we basically reverse what’s happened in recent months.”

Palestinians workers evacuated the Kerem Shalom crossing before the arrival of Israeli forces, according to Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian side of the crossing. Israel has asked the Palestinian Authority to send its employees to help run the crossing, but not in their official capacity, said two Palestinian officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss messages exchanged between Israeli and Palestinian authorities.

The authority’s leadership swiftly rejected the proposal, said the officials.

Mahmoud al-Habbash, a religious affairs adviser to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the authority, said that Israel needed to withdraw from the crossing before Palestinian Authority employees would take responsibility for operating it.

“How can we work with Israeli tanks there?” he asked in an interview. “In terms of principle, that’s unacceptable, not to mention the fact that would be dangerous for Palestinians.”

The Ramallah-based Palestinian leadership, Mr. al-Habbash said, would also need to be reassured that the return of the authority to the Rafah crossing was part of a broader effort to reintegrate the governing body back into Gaza.

“We don’t reject steps being taken one after another, but it must be known that the Rafah crossing is part of Gaza, and a solution for the Rafah crossing is part of the solution for Gaza, and the solution for Gaza is part of the solution for all parts of the Palestinian state,” he said.

In public statements, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has all but ruled out the authority returning to Gaza, a prospect supported by the United States.

Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.

— Adam Rasgon and Michael Crowley

Key Developments

Israel’s defense minister chided the Netanyahu government for lacking a postwar Gaza plan, and other news.

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, warned on Wednesday that Israel could slide toward establishing military rule over Gaza unless an alternative government is set up. Seven months into the war, Israel has yet to settle on a proper civilian alternative to Hamas’s administration, Mr. Gallant told reporters, saying that he had submitted his own plan for different “Palestinian entities” to take charge. He called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to explicitly rule out setting up “military governance” in Gaza. “Since October, I have been raising this issue consistently in the cabinet and have received no response,” said Mr. Gallant. “The end of the military campaign must come with political action.”

Palestinians on Wednesday marked the mass displacement of the hundreds of thousands who fled or were expelled during the wars surrounding the establishment of Israel in 1948. Palestinians call that period the Nakba — the disaster — and generally hold rallies on May 15, the date Israel declared its independence. This year, the commemoration of the historical trauma falls as war once again forces Palestinians to flee their homes. An estimated 1.7 million Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli assault.

Israel will “significantly increase” its quota of foreign workers to help address a labor shortage stemming from the war in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday. More than 300,000 workers, up to 3.3 percent of Israel’s population, will be allowed to work in the country under new measures, according to a statement. Since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks, Palestinians, who had made up a sizable portion of Israel’s labor force, have mostly been barred from the country, leading to shortages of workers in construction, agriculture and other sectors .

Deadly gunfire that hit a United Nations-marked car in Rafah came from a tank, a U.N. spokesman said on Tuesday. The spokesman, Farhan Haq, said the United Nations had yet to determine who was responsible for the incident on Monday, but added that the Israeli military is the only force known to have deployed tanks in Gaza. The gunfire killed a U.N. staff member who was identified as Col. Waibhav Anil Kale, an Indian citizen who worked for the U.N. Department of Safety and Security, Mr. Haq said. A Jordanian woman working for the same agency was injured in the gunfire and is recovering, he said

Israel says it is intensifying operations in northern Gaza, where Hamas has returned.

The Israeli military said Wednesday that its forces were escalating military operations in parts of northern Gaza where they have recently returned, prompting concerns over the country’s longer-term strategy as it tries to crack down on a renewed Hamas insurgency there.

Over 100,000 Palestinians have fled parts of northern Gaza since Israel ordered a mass evacuation on Saturday, according to the United Nations. Israeli forces have repeatedly gone back to sweep areas in the north during their seven-month war with Hamas, unable to decisively end the presence of armed fighters there.

Israeli forces were homing in on the Jabaliya refugee camp, according to the Israeli military and Palestinian residents. The camp is a built-up urban area largely populated by Palestinians who were displaced during the wars surrounding Israel’s establishment in 1948, as well as their descendants.

Israeli forces were advancing into the neighborhood under heavy airstrikes and shelling, said Raafat Nasr, a resident of downtown Jabaliya. Hamas’s armed wing said on the Telegram social messaging app that its fighters were engaging Israeli troops in Jabaliya refugee camp, firing on soldiers and armored vehicles.

Mr. Nasr, 50, decided to remain in his home with his wife and two children amid “terrifying explosions,” he said. They are rationing what little food and water they have.

His family is scattered: Two of his children, along with his grandchildren, are trying to flee Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, in the face of an Israeli incursion there.

“Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and we don’t have anywhere left to go,” Mr. Nasr said.

Israeli forces concluded a separate operation in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood on Wednesday, the military said. At least five soldiers were killed during that incursion, according to military statistics.

The military’s return to areas like Jabaliya and Zeitoun heightened fears that the country was bogged down in a long-term conflict in Gaza without any exit strategy. Former Israeli officials have argued that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal of fully toppling Hamas’s rule in Gaza is unrealistic as long as his government fails to present any alternative to the Palestinian armed group to govern the territory.

On Wednesday, Mr. Netanyahu sought to bat away the criticism, saying there was “no substitute for military victory” against Hamas. “Discussions about ‘the day after’ as long as Hamas remains is just empty talk,” he said in a statement.

Anas al-Tayeb, another Jabaliya resident, fled with his family on Saturday morning, hours after receiving the evacuation order. Reached by phone in Gaza City, Mr. al-Tayeb said he could still hear the blasts and feared for his home, which had been mostly undamaged since the start of the war.

The renewed fighting in northern Gaza followed several weeks in which a tense wartime calm had settled into the area, Mr. al-Tayeb said. Food prices had dropped sharply as more aid entered, reducing fears of widespread famine, while airstrikes were less frequent, he recalled.

“After we had a shred of stability — it feels like we’re back to square one, the same terror and anxiety and emotional pressure," Mr. al-Tayeb said.

— Aaron Boxerman reporting from Jerusalem

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