Nearly three dozen trucks entered Gaza on Sunday in the largest aid convoy since the war between Israel and Hamas began, but humanitarian workers said the assistance still fell desperately short of needs after thousands of people broke into warehouses to take flour and basic hygiene products.

The Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll among Palestinians passed 8,000, mostly women and minors, as Israeli tanks and infantry pursued what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “second stage” in the war ignited by Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 incursion. The toll is without precedent in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Over 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during the initial attack, also an unprecedented figure.

Communications were restored to most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people Sunday after an Israeli bombardment described by residents as the most intense of the war knocked out phone and internet services late Friday.

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The Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll among Palestinians passed 8,000, mostly women and minors, as Israeli tanks and infantry pursued what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “second stage” in the war ignited by Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 incursion. The toll is without precedent in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Over 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during the initial attack, also an unprecedented figure.

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The three have come together with a mural of Celia Cruz at the new location of Azucar at the Suniland Shopping Center in Pinecrest. This mural features wild Cuban-inspired flavors like Burn in Hell Fidel – chocolate ice cream with cayenne pepper.

Artist Diana “Didi Rok” Contreras was hired by the owner and founder of Azucar Ice Cream, Suzy Batlle, who opened the original store in Little Havana near Domino Park, where Didi has her studio and murals on the famous 8th Street.

For Didi, it was a sweet connection in several ways.

“I grew up to her music,” she says. “I still listen to her a lot in my studio. Celia Cruz used to go to a place that’s right where my Little Havana studio is, an optic store to get her glasses fixed. Then, she would get a coffee and hang out.”

The newly opened Azucar is in the former space of the chain Tutti Frutti Pinecrest Frozen Yogurt & Ice Cream and neighboring Books & Books and Flanigan’s. The tile floors at the Pinecrest shop are very similar to the floors at the original Azucar in Little Havana, with brightly patterned tiles that recall old Havana.

“I’ve known Suzi the owner for a long time, maybe 10 years,” Didi says. “When I saw that her store was opening, I asked her if she needed any murals, and she said yes. I think all of her locations have a Celia Cruz mural. She has one in Little Havana, one inland, and one in Texas.”

“Even better, she said ‘do whatever you want!’ So I found a photo I liked of Celia open-mouthed and painted her ready to bite into a cone. She has a pink sparkly outfit and glasses adorned with rhinestones. It’s from a few photos put together.”

“She wanted it to be fun and she didn’t care if I got pink paint all over the walls, like on the ceiling and everything. I said perfect! I wanted her to be holding a microphone and an ice cream cone with sprinkles. You know, she was very vibrant, so I thought it was perfect for the ice cream.”

The fun, colorful mural took Didi two days.

“Yeah, people love it now. People say their favorite singer is Celia so they love the mural.

I’ve been in talks with people that like it and maybe want a painting or mural like it somewhere. I’ve done a lot of portraits of my made-up characters, but I can do anyone.”

“I love Celia. I listen to her music, she’s always on and yeah, I love her. I saw her documentary and loved her more. My favorite song is the one that’s about being happy, laughing, not being sad.”

Suzy Batlle has used the work of local artists for a long time in the mobile carts she uses for catering. In the Azucar store, the most popular flavor is Abuela Maria, with guava, cream cheese, and Maria cookies. Other Azucar flavors are Domino—Oreo cookies and cream, for obvious reasons paying homage to Domino Park in Little Havana, and Willy Chirino, which has bourbon ice cream with dark cherries.

She says the shops are creating new flavors, too. Some are based on Girl Scout cookies favorites Thin Mints and Samoas. In addition, they’re making rose ice cream with real rose petals and rose water that will be a hit with flower lovers.

Azucar, 11429 Dixie Highway, Pinecrest. For more information, www.azucaricecream.com

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Didi Rok’s new mural Azucar at the Suniland Shopping Center

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The celestial action unfolded Sunday night into early Monday morning, with the moon bathed in the reflected red and orange hues of Earth’s sunsets and sunrises for about 1 1/2 hours, one of the longest totalities of the decade. It will be the first so-called blood moon in a year.

Observers in the eastern half of North America and all of Central and South America had prime seats for the whole show, weather permitting. Partial stages of the eclipse were visible across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Left out: Alaska, Asia, and Australia.

“This is really an eclipse for the Americas,” said NASA’s Noah Petro, a planetary geologist who specializes in the moon. “It’s going to be a treat.”

All you need, he noted, are “patience and eyeballs.”

A total eclipse occurs when Earth passes directly between the moon and the sun and casts a shadow on our constant, cosmic companion. The moon will be 225,000 miles (362,000 kilometers) away at the peak of the eclipse — around midnight on the U.S. East Coast.

“This is this gradual, slow, wonderful event that as long as it’s clear where you are, you get to see it,” Petro said.

If not, NASA provided a livestream of the eclipse from various locations; so will the Slooh network of observatories.

There’ll be another lengthy total lunar eclipse in November, with Africa and Europe lucking out again, but not the Americas. Then the next one isn’t until 2025.

Launched last fall, NASA’s asteroid-seeking Lucy spacecraft photographed this weekend’s event from 64 million miles (103 million kilometers) away, as ground controllers continue their effort to fix a loose solar panel.

NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, a geologist, set her alarm clock early aboard the International Space Station.

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Moon goes blood red for stargazers across North and South America

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The Rams won with a touchdown with 1:25 remaining.

It wasn’t only the game that was entertaining — Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, and Kendrick Lamar headlined an energetic halftime show. 50 Cent was a special guest.

Here are some of the most compelling moments captured by Associated Press photographers from Super Bowl LVI.

Photo Gallery (Click on the photos t o enlarge them)

Thrills and agony as Rams win Super Bowl

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The terrorist attacks of 9/11 were captured in countless pictures by news photographers, bystanders, first responders, security cameras, FBI agents, and others. Even an astronaut on the International Space Station took some.

Twenty years later, The Associated Press has curated 20 of its photographers’ frames from Sept. 11, 2001, when hijackers used commercial planes as missiles and crashed into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and toppled the trade center’s 110-story twin towers.

20 images that documented the enormity of 9/11

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Miami was one of numerous Black cities across the country where interstate highways were built, disrupting communities. Adams is hopeful the new Signature Bridge now being built over the area, along with a planned park underneath called the Underdeck, will help to transform and reconnect the neighborhood.

The $818 million Florida Department of Transportation project with higher, thinner columns will replace the original bridge crossing Overtown, opening up dark, underutilized space to both a park and a Heritage Trail, and connecting the neighborhood to Biscayne Bay.

Referring to the original bridge as a disaster that destroyed a thriving community, Adams, chairman emeritus of the St. John Community Development Corporation, said: “Righting a wrong is something that is aspirational, but we can try to do right today. “

The Signature Bridge project coincides with a revitalization of the neighborhood that is underway. Community leaders are working to ensure that Overtown’s Black history and culture are preserved in the process. The Southeast Overtown/Park West Community Redevelopment Association is active in spearheading development, and at the same time working to preserve affordable housing and increase Black homeownership.

Derek Fleming, managing partner of the new Red Rooster Overtown restaurant with celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson, sees the history of Overtown as “one of the most forgotten and one of the most important histories of Miami.”

The Red Rooster was once the Clyde Killens Pool Hall, frequented by musicians such as Count Basie, Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin. Fleming’s hope is to unify the neighborhood, adding: “There needs to be a replenishment of the existing culture, not a replacement.”

Historical photographs of the Overtown neighborhood are displayed on the outside of the historic Lyric Theatre in Miami. Wednesday, June 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
The husband-and-wife team of Akino and Jamila West renovated the once boarded-up 1940s-era Demetree Hotel in Overtown to create the Copper Door Bed & Breakfast, along with Rosie’s restaurant. The couple is proud to be part of the neighborhood’s revitalization, Jamila West said, adding that it’s important to pay homage to the history, but to “also insure that the current residents, or past residents even, have the same opportunity.”

Situated just west of downtown Miami, Overtown was settled in the late 1890s when Henry Flagler was recruiting workers for his Florida East Coast Railroad. Because of segregation, mostly Black workers from the South and Caribbean settled on the other side of the tracks from downtown Miami, in an area then known as “Colored Town.”

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Miami’s historic Black Overtown gets makeover

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An epic search for victims was already underway by an army of first responders, initially for survivors and now for bodies. As of Friday, at least 79 people had been confirmed dead and dozens remained missing.

Still, the 59-year-old artist felt compelled to contribute to the cause, something that might uplift the Surfside community amid so much anguish. That’s when he decided he would use his art to help translate pain into hope and resilience.

“What happened is a tragedy,” Marquez said Friday, as he brushed gray paint onto a canvass. “There is no way to get around this tragedy … but one thing we can grab on, I say, is hope.”

His hands, one gripping a paintbrush, swept across a pair of giant canvasses he hung on a fence near the collapsed building that has become an impromptu memorial.

Photos of those who have perished and those who remain missing hang from the fence among wilting bouquets and above a growing collection of items — candles, stuffed animals, a football, and even shoes — that people have left to honor and remember the victims.

In that memorial, Marquez sees a community in pain. Now and then, people come by to walk along the collection of memories. He sometimes sees people crying.

He hopes his huge work of art — each of the two panels measures 8 feet (2.4 meters) high and nearly 12 feet (3.6 meters) wide — will evoke other sentiments and serve as a tribute to the victims and the grieving community.

Marquez said the painting was inspired by master cubists like Pablo Picasso and his masterpiece “Guernica,” which depicted a town in rubble after it was bombed during the Spanish Civil War.

On one side of Marquez’s cubist painting, a first responder reaches upward for a victim. A fireman’s ladder symbolizes the crews risking their lives in their attempt to save others. There’s a woman being pulled out of the rubble. (She did not survive, Marquez explains.) A priest has his arms stretched out into the heavens, one hand clutching a cross.

And then there are the clocks, one fixed to 1:30 a.m., the moment when Champlain Towers South collapsed into rubble and dust on June 24.

Marquez at first thought about removing a dove — a symbol he used to depict the survivors waiting to be found — when officials announced earlier in the week that there was no hope anyone would be found alive. But upon reflection, he still thought it belonged.

“The story is here, and I’m trying to bring it out,” he said. His painting uses broad brushstrokes, figuratively, and he wants to leave it to the viewer to interpret the work — and paint in their own details as they view the massive artwork.

“Everyone is going to have their own different feelings,” Marquez said.

When the painting is done, perhaps over the weekend, he plans to auction it off and donate the proceeds to a fund for victims.

His painting is a gift to the city, he said.

“It doesn’t belong to me,” he said. “I’m making it, but it’s for the victims and for the town.”

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Artist uses his brush to turn Surfside’s pain into hope

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A loud rat-at-tat of explosions echoed from the structure just before 10:30 p.m. Then the building began to fall, one floor after another, cascading into an explosion of dust. Plumes billowed into the air, as crowds watched the scene from afar.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told the Associated Press after the demolition that crews had been given the all-clear to resume their search-and-rescue mission to locate the 121 people believed to be missing under a wing of the Champlain Tower South that collapsed June 24. So far, rescuers have recovered the remains of 24 people. No one has been rescued alive since the first hours after the collapse.

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On Sunday, Miami-Dade police identified David Epstein, 58, as one of the two dozen people known to have perished in the fallen tower. His remains were recovered Friday.

The demolition went “exactly as planned,” she said. “It was picture perfect. Exactly what we were told would happen.”

Crews were to begin clearing some of the new debris so rescuers could start making their way into parts of the underground garage that is of particular interest. Once there, they were hoping to get a clearer picture of voids that may exist in the rubble and could possibly harbor survivors.

Levine Cava expressed relief that the search for victims can now continue, after being suspended on Saturday so workers could begin rigging the damaged but still-upright portion of the partly-collapsed tower with explosives — a precarious operation that could have caused the structure to fail.

“I feel relief because this building was unstable. The building was hampering our search efforts,” Levine Cava said.

Rescuers are hoping the demolition will give them access for the first time to parts of the garage area that are a focus of interest. Once a new pathway into the initial rubble is secure, “we will go back to the debris pile, and we’ll begin our search and rescue efforts,” Miami-Dade Fire Chief Albert Cominsky said.

The decision to demolish the remnants of the Surfside building came after concerns mounted that the damaged structure was at risk of falling, endangering the crews below and preventing them from operating in some areas. Parts of the remaining building shifted on Thursday, prompting a 15-hour suspension in the work. An approaching storm also added urgency to the concerns.

“I truly believe … that the family members recognize and appreciate that we are proceeding in the best possible fashion to allow us to do the search that we need to do,” Levine Cava said.

Residents in the area were told to stay inside until two hours after the blast to avoid the dust raised by the implosion. Local authorities had gone door-to-door to advise them of the timing, and to ask them to keep windows closed.

Approaching Tropical Storm Elsa has added urgency to the demolition plans with forecasts suggesting there could be strong winds in the area by Monday. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in Florida because of the storm, making federal aid possible.

The latest forecasts have moved the storm westward, mostly sparing South Florida, but National Hurricane Center meteorologist Robert Molleda said the area could still feel effects.

“We’re expecting primarily tropical storm force gusts,” Molleda said, referring to gusts above 40 mph (64 kph).

The method used for Sunday night’s demolition is called “energetic felling,” which uses small detonation devices and relies on the force of gravity. Levine Cava, speaking ahead of the demolition, said that should bring the building down in place, containing the collapse to the immediate surroundings so as to minimally disturb the existing mound of debris — where scores of people are believed to be trapped.

Officials used tarps to visually mark the search area, in case new debris scatters unexpectedly.

State officials said they hired the BG Group, a general contractor based in Delray Beach, Florida, to lead the demolition. They did not immediately respond to an inquiry about how the firm was selected, but a contract for the projects calls for the state to pay the company $935,000.

A spokesperson for the state’s Division of Emergency Management said the company is subcontracting with Maryland-based Controlled Demolition Inc., which experts say is among only a handful of companies in the U.S. that demolishes structures using explosives. The company was supposed to place explosives on the basement and lobby levels of the still-standing structure, according to the contract for the work.

CDI is “probably one of the best” in the industry, said Steve Schwartz, a member of the National Demolition Association’s board of directors. He described the company’s president and owner, Mark Loizeaux, as “cool, calm and collected.”

In implosions — using explosives to have a building fall in on itself — the charges are generally set off in rapid succession over a matter of seconds, said Scott Homrich, who heads the National Demolition Association and runs his own demolition company in Detroit, Michigan. Setting the explosives off at intervals serves to break up the building at the same time it’s coming down.

Officials acknowledged that the tragedy was continuing to unfold during the July 4th holiday.

“This July 4 we’re reminded that patriotism isn’t just about loyalty to country,” said Levine Cava. “It’s about loyalty to one another — to our communities, to those in need whose names or stories we may not know ever, but to whom we are connected by compassion and by resilience.”

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Calvan reported from Tallahassee. Associated Press writers Terry Spencer in Surfside, Florida; Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami Florida; Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta, and Ian Mader in Miami contributed to this report.

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Explosives bring down rest of Surfside collapsed condo

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This time disaster struck at home.

The rescuers are searching urgently for the scores of souls buried beneath the fallen 12-story wing of the Champlain Towers condo building. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than five days after the collapse, the death toll stood at 12, with 149 people unaccounted for.

“It’s personal,” said Miami-Dade County’s former fire chief, Dave Downey, a 37-year veteran of the department who retired two years ago but joined the search.

“I’d much rather be giving help than asking for help, but right now it’s in our own backyard,” he said from a command trailer near the pile of broken concrete and twisted metal.

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Crews from across Florida and from Mexico and Israel have descended on Surfside to join the effort. More than 400 rescue workers are at the scene, rotating in and out from the rubble every 45 minutes during 12-hour shifts. At any given time, six or seven squads — each with six members — tramp over the mountain of debris or tunnel into it.

The search for survivors continued amid anguished pleas from family for rescuers to work more quickly. On-and-off downpours have not stopped the crews. Nor did a smoky fire smoldering deep within the ruins. The oppressive Florida heat hasn’t helped either.

The current fire chief, Alan Cominsky, grew emotional as he talked about the first hours after emergency crews arrived at the horrifying scene early Thursday.

“Wow, wow. The rescue efforts that we did, what we went through, going on those initial first hours in this environment at 1:30 in the morning,” he said. “So, I’m just trying to emphasize the magnitude of what we’re encountering, what we’re seeing. And we still keep pushing forward.”

Joseph A. Barbera, an expert at George Washington University on search and rescue, crossed paths with a team from Miami-Dade in 1990 while advising rescuers in the Philippines.

“They have a very strong reputation,” said Barbera, noting that the Miami-Dade search and rescue task force predates many of the other teams put in place in the United States and internationally. “I’m very confident that they will continue to do a great job.”

They’ve had lots of practice.

In 1985, a Miami-Dade team rushed to Mexico City, where an 8.1-magnitude earthquake crumbled homes and buildings, killing some 5,000 people. A decade later, the department sent personnel to Oklahoma City after the truck bombing at a federal building that killed 168 people.

Then on to earthquakes in Turkey, Taiwan, and Colombia.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 sent Florida crews to the World Trade Center, an especially emotional assignment. Many of the dead pulled from the debris were first responders who had rushed in to save lives.

But there were episodes of hope in Port-au-Prince, Haiti — devastated by an earthquake in 2010 — whenever rescuers pulled out a survivor. A reporter for the Christian Science Monitor recounted witnessing a Miami-Dade crew going into a collapsed building to save three children, ages 5, 7, and 14, while a frantic mother looked on from the street.

There have been other tragedies at home, including the collapse in 2012 of a parking structure under construction at Miami Dade College that killed four workers. But perhaps nothing has hit as hard as this most recent disaster.

No one has been pulled out alive from the ruins since the first hours after the building fell. Rescue workers have had to move cautiously amid the precarious pile of debris.

“Those first responders are breaking their backs trying to find anybody they can,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday.

Alfredo Lopez, who lived on the sixth floor of the condominium complex, in a portion that remained standing, bristled at complaints that crews weren’t working hard enough or fast enough.

“When we got out there that night, I could see nothing but ambulances and fire trucks and police cars,” he said. “Perhaps they didn’t get in there soon enough because they didn’t know what the hell was going on, like none of us.”

A seven-member search and rescue team from Mexico’s Jewish community is using for the first time a $23,000 suitcase-size device that uses microwave radar to see through 40 feet of shattered concrete and can detect signs of breathing and heartbeats. The team has also used dogs to sniff for victims.

“We are hopeful for a miracle,” said Ricardo Aizenman, one of the rescuers from Cadena International. It’s happened before, he said. “People can live up to 15, 16 days with only water, drops of water.”

Dr. Howard Lieberman also believes survivors might still be found.

“As a trauma surgeon, the one thing that I’ve learned is never counting someone out. I’ve made that mistake once or twice,” Lieberman said. “And you know what? They proved me wrong.”

Lieberman was on the scene hours after Thursday’s collapse and now leads a five-person medical team attached to Miami-Dade’s search and rescue unit. He has found himself treating rescue workers for blisters and injured feet, heat exhaustion, and fatigue from toiling in heat approaching 90 degrees.

“These guys work 12-hour cycles. I see them coming off the pile at 12 noon and they are spent, and they’re working their way back down to their tents,” said Downey, the former Miami-Dade fire chief who now chairs the Urban Search and Rescue Committee of the International Association of Fire Chiefs

“They get cleaned up. They get a little bit of food. A few hours later, I’m talking to my guys. They say, ‘We’re ready to go, chief. Put us in. We want to get to work.’”

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‘Our backyard’: Tragedy strikes home for Miami-Dade rescuers

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