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White Nights of St. Petersburg, Russia

By Joshua Hammer

• June 3, 2011

THE motorized launch cruised toward the Hermitage , the former Winter Palace of the czars, passing underneath a low arched bridge that I feared would graze my scalp as we glided beneath it. Just ahead, a boisterous wedding party on the deck of a wooden cruiser filled the air with vodka-fueled shouts of “gorko!,” meaning bitterness, a traditional Russian encouragement to the bride and groom to kiss and thus provide the guests with the opposite of what was being proclaimed.

Then the canal spilled into the vast Neva River, and all of St. Petersburg spread before us. Pink, peach and violet clouds streaked the horizon. Across the river, on Zayachy Island — one of a multitude of small islands in the Neva that fall within St. Petersburg’s metropolitan limits — stood SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral, burial place of Peter the Great, the three Alexanders and, most recently, the executed Czar Nicholas, Czarina Alexandra and their children. The golden-spired cathedral glinted in the fading sun. I breathed in the maritime air — a pungent mix of gasoline and ripe river smells — and checked my watch. It was 11 p.m., and the sky was still as bright as that of an early summer evening in New York.

In St. Petersburg, the grand city of the czars, they call them the “White Nights”: those 80 or so evenings, running from May to the end of July, when the city emerges from long months of cold and darkness and celebrates the brief return of nearly round-the-clock daylight. Residents of Russia’s cultural capital — situated a few latitudinal lines south of the Arctic Circle, at the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland — have been welcoming the summer with relief and celebration ever since Peter the Great founded the city in the early 18th century. (The czar named the new capital after his patron saint, St. Peter the apostle.)

For most of the 20th century, however, these celebrations were muted by wars, revolution and the grim imperatives of the Soviet state. The Russian Revolution broke out here in October 1917, when the city was called Petrograd. Only a few decades later, between 1941 and 1944, as many as 800,000 people died of hunger, disease and exposure during the nearly 900-day Nazi siege of the city that the Bolsheviks had renamed Leningrad. Under Joseph Stalin and his Communist successors, White Nights were disciplined affairs, limited to a smattering of classical music concerts. Even after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, St. Petersburg’s summer remained subdued: the economy had deteriorated so sharply after decades of misrule that many people became dependent on food rationing. For a time, St. Petersburg, which regained its original name in 1991, was even forced to accept humanitarian food aid from foreign donors — hardly the economic environment in which to stage all-night, citywide revelries.

During the last decade, however, Russia’s booming economy has rejuvenated St. Petersburg, and the White Nights have become more and more lively. Russian entrepreneurs have poured money into new bars, restaurants and hotels. Growing numbers of visitors from abroad, along with well-heeled Russian tourists — their wallets fat with petrodollars — and members of the increasingly mobile Russian middle class head here for summer vacations. The city fathers have seized the initiative, pumping city and state financing into organized events.

Long summer days exist elsewhere in Russia of course, from Moscow to Yekaterinburg to Yakutsk, but the White Nights have become an intrinsic part of St. Petersburg’s identity — a celebration of the city’s unique beauty and its role as the country’s artistic epicenter.

No other city in Russia enjoys such a breathtaking location. St. Petersburg was constructed on what originally were more than 100 islands formed by a latticework of rivers, creeks, streams and natural canals that flow into the Baltic Sea at the mouth of the Neva River. The Neva, the main artery through the city, snakes an east-west path across St. Petersburg, basically dividing it in half. The southern half, the part most reminiscent of Venice or Amsterdam, is cut by a grid of canals and includes many of the city’s most familiar landmarks. Among them: the Hermitage, Russia’s greatest museum and the former Winter Palace of the czars, along with Palace Square and the Alexander Column; the Kazan Cathedral, modeled after St. Peter’s at the Vatican; and the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood, a monument marking the spot of Czar Alexander II’s assassination in 1881. Here, too, runs the Nevsky Prospekt, the city’s main commercial street.

ACROSS the river, the northern part of St. Petersburg consists of a cluster of islands, including Vasilyevsky, Petrogradsky, Dekabristov and Krestovsky. Four drawbridges across the Neva connect the northern and southern parts of the city, while 342 smaller bridges, built over four centuries and made of materials ranging from wood to brick to iron, cross the city’s canals and tributaries.

You’ll find celebrations of St. Petersburg’s White Nights in virtually every corner of this sprawling, watery metropolis. Dance clubs and “beach clubs” — including the most exclusive, the Royal Beach Club on Krestovsky Island, a forested park that draws many of the city’s affluent young people — stay open until at least 6 a.m. on White Nights weekends. Throughout the night, the Nevsky Prospekt teems with revelers. There is a profusion of cultural events, from the daylong Dostoevsky festival on July 3 — a round-the-clock celebration of the local author whom many consider to be Russia’s greatest novelist — to the White Nights Festival , a combination of classical music, opera and ballet performances held from May through the end of July. The “Scarlet Sails,” a city wide high-school graduation party dating back to the end of World War II, takes place at the end of June, and draws revelers of all ages. The celebration includes an hourlong fireworks display over the Neva and the passage down the river of a graceful three-masted schooner modeled after one used by the imperial family in the late 19th century. And that doesn’t even include the variety of street theater, jam sessions and gatherings along the banks of the Neva just before 2 a.m. every day to watch the four main drawbridges, all illuminated, rise to a 90-degree angle to allow barges and other big vessels to pass. This happens throughout the year, of course, but the warm weather and the still-bright skies give the White Nights spectacle an especially celebratory feeling. “When you’ve got only 80 days of sunlight, you’ve got to make the most of them,” I was told by Sergei Bobovnikov, a dealer in Soviet-era antiques and propaganda art who was born in Kursk, a city near Moscow, but moved to St. Petersburg to attend college three decades ago.

Mr. Bobovnikov keeps two apartments in St. Petersburg: one on the island of Petrogradskaya Storona, the other across the Neva, one block off the Nevsky Prospekt. This means that, unlike many other revelers stranded on the wrong side of the river after the drawbridges rise, he is always guaranteed a place to sleep. (Mr. Bobovnikov rented me and my traveling companion his Petrogradskaya Storona apartment for the duration of our weekend stay.)

Daytime during the White Nights is usually devoted to sleeping late to recover from the long night before — perhaps mixed in with some sightseeing — or sipping cappuccinos at the cafes that line the Nevsky Prospekt and some of its side streets. My own exploration of St. Petersburg’s White Nights began on a Saturday evening in early July last year, a couple of weeks past the summer equinox. I was joined by Anna Nemtsova, a Moscow-based Newsweek correspondent and White Nights devotee who had lived for many years in St. Petersburg. Over the last several years, the White Nights have become a hugely popular draw for Russian tourists from as far away as eastern Siberia, she told me. But the largest representation of visitors comes from Moscow. “More and more Muscovites are making the weekend commute to St. Petersburg during the summer,” said Anna, who had arrived to meet me via a new high-speed train, which covers the route in four hours and charges 3,000 rubles (about $110, at about 27.6 rubles to the dollar).

ANNA and I made our way by taxi to the city center for an early evening meal — and free vodka shots — at the Idiot , one of St. Petersburg’s more popular bar-restaurants. This five-room basement establishment, located off St. Isaac Square and alongside the Moika Canal, one of the Neva’s many tributaries, reflects a new, nostalgic fascination for Russia at the turn of the 20th century. The Idiot was designed to resemble a Dostoevsky-era apartment: old oak furniture, Singer iron-pedaled sewing machines, clunky typewriters, shelves of antique books and the occasional, anachronistic bust of Lenin. We were joined by Mireille Massip , a French author who was in town to attend, among other events, a big White Nights gathering of returned St. Petersburg nobility.

Hundreds of White Russians — descendants of both the pre-revolutionary aristocrats and the anti-Bolshevik military officers who fled to Western Europe and the United States during the consolidation of Bolshevik power in 1919 and 1920 — have returned to the city since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some have taken up residence in the same apartments their families lived in in czarist Russia. Over a bowl of borscht and a glass of Chablis, Ms. Massip, who had recently finished a biography of a White Russian exile in America, told us that she returns to St. Petersburg “every second year,” always during the summer.

White Nights in St. Petersburg

View Slide Show ›

Tipsy after our round of vodka shots, Anna and I left the Idiot and commenced a White Nights ritual: the downtown walkabout through the area around the Moika. This original part of the city began to take shape in the early 18th century, when Peter, who was enamored of Dutch culture, laid out a grid of intersecting canals that flow into the Neva and hired Western Europe’s most celebrated architects to line them with palaces and cathedrals. Peter died in 1725, and the capital that he founded rapidly expanded. In 1728, Peter II moved his seat back to Moscow. But four years later, the Empress Anna again made St. Petersburg the capital of the Russian Empire. It remained the seat of the Romanov Dynasty for nearly two centuries, until the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

We turned left along the Moika and crossed a short span nicknamed the Drunk Bridge, a rickety iron crossing from which assassins threw the still-living Rasputin — the faith healer to Nicholas and Alexandra — into the river in 1916. Along the nearby Nevsky Prospect, the new multi-ethnic Russia — sushi bars, Middle Eastern shisha bars, Chinese tea rooms — was drawing a crowd of customers from around the globe. We found our way to Rubinstein Street, a trendy boulevard that has exploded in recent years with curio shops, theaters and ethnic restaurants.

Here, at a newly opened Georgian restaurant, we discreetly fortified ourselves for the night ahead with a bottle of sweetish red Georgian wine, officially illicit, because Georgian wine imports had been banned by the Russian authorities since before the 2008 war in the south Caucasus, in which hundreds of soldiers and civilians died. It was still too early for most Russians to sit down to dinner, and we were the only guests in the spartan place. The owner and her daughter tended to us solicitously, as traditional Georgian folk music played in the background. They served up a nonstop procession of heavy, exotic dishes: lobio, a thick red bean soup; piles of meat-filled dumplings, known as khinkali; a cheese and herb bread called khachapuri tarkhunit; and spicy meatballs called abkhazura.

It was around 11 p.m. by the time we left the restaurant and headed back toward the Neva. The sky was streaked with fiery wisps of cloud. We walked through the eerily deserted Palace Square to a plaza beside the river, facing Vasilyevsky Island, site of the Italianate-style Kunst Chamber, an ethnography museum that includes Peter the Great’s bizarre collection of deformed embryos preserved in formaldehyde. Hundreds of people had gathered in the plaza, one of the most popular vantage points to watch the raising and lowering of the four drawbridges. All eyes were focused on a juggling team that tossed flaming sticks in the air, their acrobatics accompanied by the rhythmic beating of tom-toms played by musicians clad in billowy Ali Baba pants. The look, Anna explained, was inspired by the traditions of the Indian state of Goa, an increasingly popular destination for young Russians on holiday.

THE Neva itself was abuzz with activity: People took in the view sitting on the stone steps that ran down to the river, splashed from time to time by wakes from a constant stream of sightseeing vessels. The pleasure-boat owners have been among the biggest beneficiaries of the White Nights’ popularity. For 4,000 rubles, visitors can enjoy — as I did the following evening — an hourlong private cruise, sipping wine and gazing at sites like the landmark Mariinsky Theater on the Kryukov canal. “The number of boats on the river has quadrupled in the last couple of years,” Mr. Bobovnikov, the antiques dealer, told me. It’s a short season, however: throughout St. Petersburg’s seven-month winter, both the Neva and its tributaries are covered by a solid sheet of ice, and the waterways often don’t thaw entirely until the beginning of April.

The energetic scene on the plaza — illuminated bridges, teeming crowds, stands selling ice cream and American-style hot dogs, the pungent smell of diesel fuel, the hypnotic drumbeating, riverboats fighting for space on the wide Neva — reminded me a bit of the scene alongside the Nile in Cairo, with a similar sense of energy and controlled chaos.

As 2 a.m. approached, Anna and I crossed the Palace Bridge and the Stroiteley Bridge to Petrogradskaya Storona, on the northeast side of the city, across the Neva River. We found a large riverboat restaurant called the Flying Dutchman, its wooden-plank deck providing a panoramic view of all four main spans. The sky was darkening, and a huge, butterscotch half-moon loomed just above the Hermitage.

Then, as we sat on a couch on the restaurant deck in the gathering dusk, sharing a shisha and drinking vodka tonics, the Troitsky Bridge beside the museum began its slow ascent. It rose to a 90-degree angle above the Neva, and then, one by one, at 15-minute intervals, each of the three other spans followed. The graceful upward movement of the bridges, each following another with what seemed like perfect synchronicity, the sense of anticipation that suffused the crowds, the interplay of lights and water, all conveyed a magical effect.

Traffic ground to a halt, people gaped from promenades along the river, and then the first of what would be many barges, coming from the Gulf of Finland, swept into view. In near darkness now, Anna and I sipped our drinks and savored the scene — the moment when all of St. Petersburg seemed to stop and enjoy a brief respite from the endless whirl of its summer nights.

MIDNIGHT OIL NOT NECESSARY

“The Stars of the White Nights 2011” International Ballet and Opera Festival runs through July 24 and consists of a huge variety of musical events open to the public. Many events take place at the Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet and Opera Theater, but there are operas, ballets and concerts at performance halls all over St. Petersburg. For the full schedule, check balletandopera.com.

WHERE TO STAY

The Grand Hotel Europe (Nevsky Prospekt, Mikhailovskaya Ulitsa 1/7; 7-812-329-6000; www.grandhoteleurope.com) is widely considered the best place to stay in St. Petersburg. The luxurious, 130-year-old establishment with an ornate facade and a prime location has played host to a procession of European monarchs as well as to many great men and women of culture, including Tchaikovsky and Pavarotti. Rates for a standard double start at 15,300 rubles, or about $557 at 27.6 rubles to the dollar.

The Hotel Astoria (39 Bolshaya Morskaya;7-812-494-5757; www.thehotelastoria.com) makes a fine second choice. Owned by Sir Rocco Forte, it has grand, old-Russian style interiors and another excellent location on St. Isaac’s Square in the heart of the city, a few blocks from the Hermitage. The 210 rooms and 42 suites at Hotel Astoria start at 20,000 rubles.

WHERE TO EAT

The Idiot (82 Moika Canal; 7-812-315-1675), popular among both expats and St. Petersburg’s artist crowd, consists of four rooms crammed with antique furniture, oil paintings, chess and backgammon sets, English-language books and assorted Russian bric-a-brac. The menu features excellent Russian and vegetarian cuisine.

Khutor Vodogray (Ul. Karavannaya 2; 7-812-570-5737) is a handsome restaurant with whitewashed walls and dark beams suggesting a Ukrainian cottage. Ukrainian delicacies include homemade sausages, and black bread with salo, a traditional dish made from salt-cured pig fat.

Probka/Il Grappolo (Ul. belinskogo 5; 7-812-273-4904; www.probka.org) is a modern wine bar and restaurant offering memorable views of the Church of St. Simeon and St. Anna through its large picture windows. The wine list includes top-flight reds and whites from a dozen countries, and the menu features Italian and European food. Recommended are the pizzas topped with rucola.

JOSHUA HAMMER, a freelance foreign correspondent based in Berlin, is a frequent contributor to the Travel section.

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Neva Travel - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

• International

Devastation in Gaza as Israel wages war on Hamas

By Heather Chen , Sophie Tanno, Adrienne Vogt , Tori B. Powell and Matt Meyer , CNN

Hamas delegation will travel to Cairo Sunday to reinforce previous demands in hostage-ceasefire talks

From CNN's Sarah El Sirgany and Niamh Kennedy

A Hamas delegation said it will reiterate its previous demands when it travels to Cairo on Sunday for further negotiations on the release of hostages in return for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The delegation, headed by senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya, will "stick to the stance presented on March 14," the group said in a statement published Saturday. 

These demands include, according to the statement:

• a call for a permanent ceasefire
• a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza
• the return of internally displaced Palestinians to their homes
• the free movement of people throughout the enclave
• a "proper" prisoner-hostage swap deal

Hamas turned down Israel’s latest counterproposal from earlier this week, a diplomat familiar with the discussions said Friday.

Israel’s top political and military officials have previously called Hamas’ demands “delusional” and stated that the elimination of the group remains the permanent goal of the Gaza offensive.

It comes as two sources told CNN Friday that the CIA director and the heads of Israel's intelligence agencies will also head to Egypt this weekend for talks. CIA Director Bill Burns, Israel’s Mossad Director David Barnea and Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar all attended the previous round of talks with mediators in Doha, Qatar, which failed to yield a significant breakthrough. 

CNN’s Michael Callahan, Eugenia Ugrinovich, Mostafa Salem and Becky Anderson contributed previous reporting to this post.

Top Iranian general vows Israeli strike "won't remain unanswered" as he attends funeral for commander

From CNN's Niamh Kennedy

The top Iranian general attended the funeral procession of military officer Mohammed Reza Zahedi on Saturday, vowing Iran will respond to the strike on its embassy consulate in Damascus that killed killed top figures from its Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran has pinned the blame for the attack on Israel, and Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri said Saturday that it "won’t remain unanswered” by Iran, according to Iran's semi-official news outlet Tasnim.

Bagheri, who is the country's highest ranking military commander, said it will be up to Iran to decide how and when to respond to attack, according to the Tasnim report. 

He also issued a warning to the US, saying the "main responsibility" for the Damascus attack lies with the US, according to Tasnim.

Bagheri's remarks on Saturday were heard by a huge crowd gathered in the western city of Isfahan for Zahedi's funeral procession. Video from news agencies and state media shows mourners thronging the streets to catch a glimpse of the officer's coffin, which travelled in a highly-decorated open cortege. 

Many mourners could be seen waving Iranian and Palestinian flags.

Some context: Israel has intensified its military campaign against both Iran and its proxy groups in the region  since the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which is backed by Tehran, and the subsequent war in Gaza.

The US is on high alert and actively preparing for a “significant” attack that could come as soon as within the next week by Iran targeting Israeli or American assets in retaliation for the Damascus strike, a senior administration official told CNN on Friday.

Gunfire and explosions heard near the Erez crossing ahead of anticipated reopening

The sound of fighting can be heard near the Erez land crossing on Saturday, according to a CNN team on the ground, as Israel prepares to reopen the crossing for the first time since Hamas' October 7 attacks.

CNN's Nic Robertson reported near the border between Israel and northern Gaza, saying Israel Defense Forces troops had moved the team from another location, where they said CNN could not broadcast.

"It's still a tense situation around here," Robertson said. "We can hear gunfire from the other side of the border." "That's Gaza on the hilltop behind me there," he continued. "You can hear explosions still."

Israel's decision to allow aid deliveries through the Erez crossing came shortly after US President Joe Biden pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do more to address the spiraling humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

But Robertson said it remains difficult to imagine aid trucks rolling safely through Erez while the sounds of fighting remain so close by.

Watch Robertson's report below:

Body of Israeli hostage returned to family after being rescued overnight, Israel says 

From CNN's Eugenia Ugrinovich and Radina Gigova

The body of an Israeli hostage, who was killed while held captive by the terrorist group Islamic Jihad, has been returned to the family, the Israeli military said Saturday. 

The body of Elad Katzir was rescued overnight from the city of Khan Younis in Gaza and returned to his family in Israel following identification procedures, according to a joint statement by the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Security Agency. 

Katzir was abducted by Islamic Jihad from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the attacks on October 7, according to the statement. His mother, Hanna, was also abducted by the terrorist group and released on November 24 as part of the agreement for the release of hostages. His father, Avraham, was killed in the kibbutz, the statement said. 

"We received bad news. Elad was brought to Israel tonight (last night), after he was murdered in captivity," Katzir's sister Carmit said in a Facebook post Saturday. "This is not how your story and ours should have ended. Sorry we couldn't save you."

She also lashed out at the Israeli leadershi, saying they did not do enough to bring the hostages home. 

"He could have been saved if a deal had been made in time. Our leadership is cowardly and driven by political considerations and that is why it did not happen," she said. 

Following Katzir's return, a total of 133 hostages remain held in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. Of that number, 129 hostages are from the October 7 attack, and 99 of them are believed to be alive.

Report: Israeli doctor describes "deplorable" conditions and "routine" amputations for Palestinian detainees

From CNN's Lauren Kent

A doctor at a field hospital for detained Palestinians at Israel's Sde Teiman army base has described "deplorable" conditions , with amputations being carried out on prisoners with handcuff injuries on a "routine" basis, according to an exclusive report from the newspaper  Haaretz . 

In a letter to Israel's attorney general and defense and health ministers obtained by Haaretz, the doctor said the conditions at Sde Teiman field hospital compromise inmates' health and violate medical ethics. 

Haaretz reported that the doctor said "inmates are fed through straws, defecate in diapers and are held (in) constant restraints, which violate medical ethics and the law."

"Just this week, two prisoners had their legs amputated due to handcuff injuries, which unfortunately is a routine event," the doctor said in the letter. It is not clear when they wrote the letter.

CNN spoke to a source who has a medical background and previously visited the Sde Teiman field hospital. They confirmed seeing detainees held in constant restraints.

In a written statement to CNN responding to the claims, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said: "The IDF operates according to the law and within the framework of the law when it comes to the treatment of detainees. Every procedure is documented and supervised, and is done with extreme care for the human dignity of the detainees, in accordance with the principles of Israeli and international law."

Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi joins calls to halt US arms sales to Israel

From CNN's Sophie Tanno

Former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has joined House Democrat calls to halt US arms sales to Israel, citing the recent strike against aid workers and the spiraling humanitarian situation.

In a letter to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Pelosi and dozens of other congressional Democrats expressed their "shared concern and outrage" over the Israeli airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers.

"In light of this incident, we strongly urge you to reconsider your recent decision to authorize the transfer of a new arms package to Israel, and to withhold this and any future offensive arms transfers until a full investigation into the airstrike is completed," it reads.

The letter acknowledges the Biden administration's recent efforts to increase the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza, but warns they are not sufficient to meet the needs of civilians on the ground.

US Sen. Bernie Sanders has also been calling for a halt in military aid.

“The bottom line is, we are looking at one of the worst humanitarian disasters we’ve seen in a very long time," he told CNN's The Lead. “To my mind, Israel should not be getting another nickel in military aid until these policies are fundamentally changed."

Australia says it hasn't received "sufficient information" on death of aid worker despite Israeli probe

From CNN's Angus Watson in Sydney 

Australia has "not yet received sufficient information" about the death of citizen Laizawmi "Zomi" Frankcom, its foreign ministry said, after she was killed along with six other aid workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) non-profit in an Israeli military strike.

Speaking during a press briefing in Adelaide, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she had conveyed the message during a verbal briefing with Israel, in which she told them: "We have not yet received sufficient information to satisfy our expectations."

Frankcom and the other workers were killed in an Israeli military strike in Gaza on Monday. She had worked with WCK since 2019, most recently as a senior manager of its operations in Asia.

"This is someone who volunteered in Australia to help people during the bush fires. This is someone who was volunteering overseas to provide aid through this charity for people who are suffering tremendous deprivation in Gaza," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

Wong said she had written to Israeli counterparts following the deaths this week to reiterate expectations about consequences for those who carried out the strikes.

More background: Israel said it made a "grave mistake" in its preliminary findings over the incident, and fired two senior officers.

But the WCK and some Western leaders have called for an independent, third-party investigation into the strike, and the Palestinian ambassador to the UN has  accused Israel  of deliberately targeting the workers.

US preparing for significant Iran attack on US or Israeli assets in the region as soon as next week

From CNN's MJ Lee and Jennifer Hansler

The US is on high alert and actively preparing for a “significant” attack that could come as soon as within the next week by Iran targeting Israeli or American assets in the region  in response to Monday’s Israeli strike in Damascus that killed top Iranian commanders, a senior administration official tells CNN.

Senior US officials currently believe that an attack by Iran is “inevitable” – a view shared by their Israeli counterparts, that official said.

The two governments are working to get in position ahead of what is to come, as they anticipate that Iran’s attack could unfold in a number of different ways – and that both US and Israeli assets and personnel are at risk of being targeted.

A forthcoming Iranian attack was a major topic of discussion on President Joe Biden’s phone  call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu  on Thursday. As of Friday, the two governments did not know when or how Iran planned to strike back, the official said.

A direct strike on Israel by Iran is one of the worst-case scenarios that the Biden administration is bracing for, as it would guarantee rapid escalation of an already tumultuous situation in the Middle East. Such a strike could lead to the Israel-Hamas war broadening into a wider, regional conflict – something Biden has long sought to avoid.

US reviewing Israel's report on airstrike that killed 7 aid workers. Here's what you should know

From CNN staff

The US received  Israel’s report on the deadly strike  on a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy in Gaza and is “ reviewing it very carefully ,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday.

There are "no plans" for the US to conduct an independent or separate investigation, according to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

The Israel Defense Forces fired two of its officers and reprimanded others for their involvement in the strikes, but the WCK charity said Israel could not be trusted to investigate its own errors in Gaza.

Here are other headlines you should know:

• More on the WCK convoy attack: UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that while Israel had admitted mistakes  in the killing of the WCK workers, there must be independent investigations and “meaningful” change on the ground. John Kelly, the appointed US representative to the UN, also highlighted the urgent need to protect humanitarian personnel in conflict zones. And the Palestinian ambassador to the UN accused Israel of deliberately targeting the  WCK staff . "It took the deaths of foreigners" for the international community to acknowledge the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza over the past 180 days, Ambassador Riyad Mansour said.
• Humanitarian crisis: The International Rescue Committee has  issued a warning about the grim situation facing pregnant women and mothers in Gaza. These vulnerable groups are struggling to survive, confronting acute shortages of food, water, and medical care, along with the looming threat of famine, it said. Amid the crisis, the World Health Organization said it completed a “ highly complex mission ” delivering medical aid to hospitals in northern Gaza on Thursday.
• Potential Iranian attack: The US is on high alert and actively preparing for a “significant” attack that could come as soon as within the next week by Iran targeting Israeli or American assets in the region  in response to Monday’s Israeli strike in Damascus  that killed top Iranian commanders, a senior administration official told CNN. The United States has warned Iran not to use the Israeli strike as “a pretext to attack US personnel and facilities."
• Pressure on Israel: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock urged Israel’s government to “ quickly implement ” its plans to  reopen the Erez land crossing  and port of Ashdod to allow more aid into Gaza, saying there are “no more excuses.” And Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told CNN of the “frustration” felt within NATO that Israel is “ going too far ” in Gaza after  this week's attack  on a WCK aid workers.
• AI in war: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed concerns over  reports of  Israel's use of artificial intelligence during its war in Gaza.

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New York earthquake brings travel to a halt as airports and tunnels temporarily hit pause

• The Federal Aviation Authority issued ground stops at JFK and EWR following an earthquake. 
• The Holland Tunnel, NJ Transit, and New York City subways also experienced delays.
• The disruptions follow a rare 4.8 magnitude earthquake in the tristate area on Friday morning.

Travel for this weekend's Solar Eclipse is in full swing nationwide, but an unexpected earthquake Friday morning caused airline and tunnel disruptions all across New York and the tri-state area.

The United States Geological Survey estimated the earthquake fell under a 4.8 magnitude, which is the largest in about 250 years. The epicenter was 30 miles west of Newark, New Jersey.

The Federal Aviation Authority issued ground stops at JFK and Newark Liberty International Airport. Additionally, flights that were supposed to land in Newark were held as workers inspected the runaway for damage.

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The ground stop at John F. Kennedy International Airport ended by 11:30 a.m, according to Flightradar24. The ground stop at Newark was issued at 11:05 a.m. and ended close to 12:30 p.m., according to live updates on the FAA website.

Departures to Newark are delayed 77 minutes and arrivals are delayed about 45 minutes, according to the FAA.

"A 4.8 magnitude earthquake in New Jersey may impact some air traffic facilities in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Baltimore," FAA spokesperson Crystal Essiaw said. "Air traffic operations are resuming as quickly as possible."

The earthquake is also impacting drivers in the city. The Holland Tunnel closed temporarily for an inspection following the earthquake. NJ Transit posted on X at 11 a.m. that the rail service was delayed up to 20 minutes due to "bridge inspections following an earlier earthquake."

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul posted on X, formerly Twitter, that her office is assessing "impacts and any damage that may have occurred."

The office of New York City Mayor Eric Adams also posted on X that they were assessing the damage but "do not have any reports of major impacts at this time."

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority posted delays with the 4, 5, A, C, E, and L trains. Although, it did not specify if the delays were related to the earthquake.

Watch: VIDEO: Passengers shot in moving subway train in New York City

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