ODED BALILTY

Trees and bushes growing around the old railroad tracks once used to transport Jews and others from across Europe to Auschwitz, the Nazi German extermination and labor camp, in Oswiecim, Poland, Thursday, Jan. 23. 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
AP PHOTOS: The rail tracks of Auschwitz still cross the area as aging reminders of horror
Many of those rail tracks are abandoned but still exist within the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, stark reminders of the industrial nature of the killing. But they also extend beyond the memorial site, cutting through fields and running along family homes and a bus station, aging testa
January 27
A man walks past the ''Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Sets You Free) gate at the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, a former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp, in Oswiecim, Poland, Thursday, Jan. 23. 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
AP Photos: Silence pervades Auschwitz on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation
OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) — Silence pervades the site of Auschwitz-Birkenau today.

A single woman’s shoe in a huge pile of footwear taken from the prisoners on arrival still has such a vibrant red hue that it seems as if someone might have walked or danced in it not too long ago. But it sits amid a heap of other shoes dark with age and decay.
January 26
Bullet holes cover the bedroom wall of hostage Ariel Bibas, 4, in Kibbutz Nir Oz, Israel, on Friday, June 21, 2024. Ariel was kidnapped on Oct. 7, with his infant brother, Kfir, his mother, Shiri, and his father, Yarden. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Time is frozen in the empty bedrooms of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas
Hamas militants killed roughly 1,200 people in Israel on Oct. 7, and kidnapped around 250 — many taken from their bedrooms. Since then, the Israeli army has killed over 38,000 Palestinians while fighting Hamas in Gaza, according to local health officials who do not distinguish between civilians and
July 12, 2024
Bullet holes cover the bedroom wall of hostage Ariel Bibas, 4, at his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, Israel, on Friday, June 21, 2024. Ariel was kidnapped from his home in the kibbutz near the Gaza border with his infant brother, Kfir, his mother, Shiri, and his father, Yarden, when Hamas militants abducted around 250 people and killed 1,200 during their cross-border attack on Oct. 7. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
The eerie, empty bedrooms of Israelis held hostage in Gaza are frozen in time
The bedrooms of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 remain frozen in time.
July 9, 2024
Palestinians wave their national flag and celebrate by a destroyed Israeli tank at the southern Gaza Strip fence east of Khan Younis on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Yousef Masoud)
AP PHOTOS: 100 days of agony in an unprecedented war between Israel and Hamas
Scenes from Hamas’ surprise attack on a music festival, farming communities and army outposts in southern Israel are seared into the national psyche.
January 13, 2024
Israeli police use a water cannon to disperse demonstrators blocking the freeway during protest against plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to overhaul the judicial system in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. Protesters took to the streets in support of Tel Aviv's police chief, who announced his resignation on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Thousands of Israelis cripple Tel Aviv highway to support police chief ousted by Netanyahu ally
Thousands of protesters have blocked Tel Aviv’s main highway and major intersections across Israel, in a spontaneous outburst of anger following the ouster of the city’s popular police chief.
July 6, 2023
AP PHOTOS: A dive into Israel’s mermaid community
Ever since getting hooked on Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” as a kid, Katzenell confided, she has longed to turn into one.
April 16, 2019