Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rom. It's day 12 of the government shutdown, and there's no apparent movement towards ending the stalemate.

Democrats say any short-term measure must include a plan to extend health insurance subsidies due to expire at the end of the year.

The Trump administration is using the shutdown to lay off thousands of federal

workers. NPR Stephen Fowler has more. Trump administration officials have said that Democrats

caused the government shutdown. The government shutdown means making hard choices about spending and

staffing, and the White House feels like it's forced to make these tough decisions. At the same time,

this is an extension of that Department of Government Efficiency push to slash the federal

government size and scope. And before the shutdown, even, we've reported on agencies hiring people

back because they can't do basic functions or carry out the president's agenda items.

NPR's Stephen Fowler. The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and Gaza is now in its third day.

President Trump is heading to the region. He's to speak to the Israeli parliament tomorrow.

A survivor of the Hamas-led attack on Israel two years ago has been found dead in apparent suicide.

NPR's Daniel Estrin met him the day he survived the attack.

Rueh Shalev was at the Nova Music Festival in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

It was the deadliest single attack Hamas carried out that day.

At a hospital that evening, Shalev told NPR,

he and his girlfriend dove under a parked truck and played dead. Then they were shot.

It was a huge nightmare. I didn't see myself getting out alive, he said. Later, he discovered

his girlfriend didn't survive. Weeks later, his mother killed herself.

This past Friday, the day Israel announced a Gaza ceasefire, Shalev was found dead in a torched car.

In a social media post, he asked for forgiveness and said he couldn't bear the pain. He was 30 years old.

Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv.

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