The best images from July 9
Smoke and debris rise after an Israeli strike on the Gaza Strip seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza Border, Wednesday. The military said it struck about 200 Hamas targets on the second day of its offensive, which it says is needed to end incessant rocket attacks out of Gaza.Ariel Schalit/The Associated Press
Drivers take cover beside their cars on a highway as an air raid siren, warning of incoming rockets, sounds in Tel Aviv. Israeli air strikes shook Gaza every few minutes on Wednesday, and militants kept up rocket fire at Israel's heartland in intensifying warfare that Palestinian officials said has killed at least 47 people in the Hamas-dominated enclave.STRINGER/Reuters
Shiite volunteers sleep during the midday heat inside the Askariya Shrine, where two imams revered by Shiites are buried, in Samarra, Iraq. The drive from Baghdad north to Samarra illustrates Iraq's precarious new reality: a world divided by the Shiite militia and the Sunni militants, where travelers must read signs to distinguish between safety or danger.BRYAN DENTON/The New York Times
Netherland's Lars Boom crosses the finish line to win the fifth stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 155 kilometers (96.3 miles) with start in Ypres, Belgium, and finish in Arenberg, France.Peter Dejong/The Associated Press
Cows, draped in the colours of the Tour de France cycling leaders jerseys, graze in a field near rolls of hay with the portraits of former champions along the route of the fifth stage of the Tour de France cycling race from Ypres in Belgium to Arenberg Porte du Hainaut in France.JACKY NAEGELEN/Reuters
Nimra, 11, is silhouetted against the setting sun on her makeshift stall while selling bottles of water to wash feet, at 20 PKR ($0.20) each, along Karachi's Clifton beach.ATHAR HUSSAIN/Reuters
Britain's Prince William (R) talks to British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) members at a swimming pool in central London. The Prince and his father Prince Charles attended a reception to mark the handover of the Presidency of BSAC from Prince Charles to Prince William.POOL/Reuters
Melody Griffin, 11, launches into a cool 360 spin off the diving board at the public swimming pool in Prescott, Wash. Forecasters say the weather is turning hotter in Washington with temperatures this weekend expected in the 80s to lower 90s in Western Washington and 90s to triple digits in Eastern Washington.Greg Lehman/The Associated Press
In this recent photo, boats float in the water at the dock area at Crater Lake National Park from the Cleetwood Cove Trail at Crater Lake National Park about 90 miles south of Bend, Ore.Alisha Roemeling/The Associated Press
A Bosnian Muslim woman cries near the coffin of her relative, in the Memorial center in Potocari, 200 kms northeast of Sarajevo. Hundreds of people turned out in Sarajevo's main street to pay their respects to 175 victims of the Srebrenica massacre ó Europe's worst since World War II ó as a truck carried their coffins to a final resting place. The remains of the men and boys, found in mass graves and identified through DNA analysis, will be buried in Srebrenica on Friday, the 19th anniversary of the massacre, next to 6,066 previously found victims.AP/The Associated Press
An artillery blast marks the conclusion of the opening ceremony commemorating of the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Monocacy, the only major Confederate victory on northern soil at the Monocacy National Battlefield near Fredrick, Md.Graham Cullen/The Associated Press
A B-1 bomber cuts through the clouds and rain upon takeoff at Ellsworth Air Force Base outside Rapid City, S.D. The Pentagon is preparing to ask for funds to preserve and upgrade the country's aging bomber fleet, but not everyone agrees that planes originally conceived to counter nuclear threats are relevant today.ERIC GINNARD/The New York Times