Pamela Anderson takes a bow at TIFF for 'The Last Showgirl'

TORONTO (AP) — The Toronto International Film Festival has played host to many comeback stories over the years. Brendan Fraser was cheered here two years ago for his performance in “The Whale.” This year's unlikely comeback story might be Pamela Anderson.

On Friday, Gia Coppola premiered her film “The Last Showgirl,” an indie drama starring Anderson as an aging Las Vegas showgirl. Shelley (Anderson) is the long-running star of casino dance show of scantily clad, feather-adorned women that has seen better days. With attendance dwindling, the show's stage manager (Dave Bautista) announces they will soon give their last performance, leaving Shelley — who believes sincerely in the show — pondering her choices.

The film, which is for sale in Toronto, drew mixed reviews but warm applause for the 57-year-old Anderson.

“I’ve been getting ready my whole life for this role,” Anderson told the crowd at the Princess of Wales Theatre following the premiere.

For Anderson, whose most notable credits include “Baywatch” and “Borat," the festival acclaim was a novel experience. Even just getting a script like “The Last Showgirl” was something new for her.

“It's the first time I've read a good script, first of all. I've never had a script come to me that was coherent,” said Anderson. “I was like: I'm the only one that can do this. I've never felt that strongly about something.”

“The Last Showgirl" extends a run of good fortune for the former Playboy Playmate that includes her 2023 memoir “Love, Pamela” and the Emmy-nominated Netflix documentary “Pamela, A Love Story." It also shares some of the same themes as another TIFF entry, the body horror film “The Substance." That film, starring Demi Moore, likewise grapples with agism for female entertainers.

Jamie Lee Curtis, who co-stars as a very bronze casino waitress in “The Last Showgirl,” got emotional discussing her character.

“I'm just a product of that same reality,” said Curtis. “You know who Annette is. Every single one of you know an Annette. It's a movie about dreams and going after your dreams. But of course, the dreams become a really (expletive) harsh reality. And for women, it's a really harsh reality that men don't have as much.”

Curtis then added, with a grin, “And a spray tan helps.”

Gia Coppola attends the premiere of "The Last Showgirl" during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, at Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Jamie Lee Curtis stands on the red carpet for the premiere of "The Last Showgirl" at the Princess of Wales Theatre, during the Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (Paige Taylor White/The Canadian Press via AP)

Pamela Anderson stands on the red carpet for the premiere of "The Last Showgirl" at the Princess of Wales Theatre, during the Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (Paige Taylor White/The Canadian Press via AP)

Kiernan Shipka poses for photos with fans at the premiere of "The Last Showgirl" at the Princess of Wales Theatre, during the Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (Paige Taylor White/The Canadian Press via AP)

Jamie Lee Curtis attends the premiere of "The Last Showgirl" during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, at Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Pamela Anderson, left, and Gia Coppola attend the premiere of "The Last Showgirl" during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, at Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Dave Bautista stands on the red carpet for the premiere of "The Last Showgirl" at the Princess of Wales Theatre, during the Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (Paige Taylor White/The Canadian Press via AP)

Pamela Anderson stands on the red carpet for the premiere of "The Last Showgirl" at the Princess of Wales Theatre, during the Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto, Friday Sept. 6, 2024. (Paige Taylor White/The Canadian Press via AP)

Pamela Anderson attends the premiere of "The Last Showgirl" during the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, at Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes killed 16 people in the Gaza Strip on Monday, including five women and four children.

A strike flattened a home in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 10 people there, including four women and two children. The Awda Hospital, which received the bodies, confirmed the toll and also said 13 people were wounded. Hospital records show that the dead included a mother, her child and her five siblings.

Another strike on a home in Gaza City killed six people, including a woman and two children, according to the Civil Defense, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government.

Israel says it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack triggered the Israel-Hamas war nearly a year ago. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.

Here’s the latest:

SANAA, Yemen — The leader of Hamas Yahya Sinwar has told Yemen’s Houthi rebels that their recent missile attack has sent a message to Israel.

Yahya Sinwar’s letter to Abdul-Malek al-Houthi was published by the Houthis’ al-Masirah news channel Monday, a day after a missile fired by the Iran-backed rebels landed in an open area in central Israel and triggered air raid sirens at its international airport.

“I congratulate you for succeeding in making your missile reach the depth of the enemy’s entity after surpassing all defense systems,” Sinwar’s letter read, according to al-Masirah.

Sinwar added that the Yemeni missile attack sent a message that that attempts to “contain” Hamas have failed and that the back-up fronts by Iran-backed groups are becoming more effective.

Sinwar said that Hamas carried out the Oct. 7, attack on southern Israel and has since been fighting “a defensive war that has exhausted the enemy.” He added that Hamas had prepared for “a long war of attrition that will break” Israel’s political will.

Shortly after the Israel-Hamas war started, Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq have claimed responsibility for scores of attacks against Israel saying they are backing their allies in Hamas.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinians say Israeli settlers wielding sticks stormed a Palestinian school in the occupied West Bank, beating staff members and tying up the principal.

The Israeli military said Palestinians had attacked an Israeli nearby, inflicting a head injury, before fleeing to the school on Monday. It said a group of Israelis followed the attackers and a confrontation ensued in which a number of Palestinians were hurt.

Hassan Malihat, a Palestinian lawyer who at the time was visiting the school near the city of Jericho, said the settlers entered at around 8 a.m. He says the Israeli army arrived about two hours later and arrested three staff members, including the principal.

The military said soldiers and police were dispatched to the school, ended the confrontation and arrested a number of suspects.

The Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service says seven Palestinians were wounded in the confrontation.

Settler violence has surged across the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza. In some cases, Israeli settlers have stormed Palestinian villages setting cars and properties ablaze.

There has also been a rise in car-ramming, stabbing and shooting attacks carried out against Israelis by Palestinian militant groups and lone attackers.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war — lands the Palestinians want for a future state.

The 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli military rule, with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in some areas. Over 500,000 settlers with Israeli citizenship live in well over 100 settlements considered illegal by most of the international community.

ANKARA, Turkey — Initial findings from an autopsy by Turkish authorities indicate that Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi who was killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank died from a gunshot wound to the head.

The eight-page report, signed by four forensic doctors and a forensic technician, was made available to The Associated Press on Monday. It described details such as skull fractures caused by the gunshot and brain tissue damage, noting that a toxicology report and tissue sample analysis are still pending.

The 26-year-old activist from Seattle, who held dual U.S. and Turkish citizenship, was killed on Sept. 6 during a demonstration against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Her funeral and burial took place in the Turkish Aegean coastal town of Didim on Saturday.

The Israeli military stated last week that Eygi was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces. Turkey is conducting its own investigation into her death.

JERUSALEM — The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says the first round of a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza ended successfully by reaching 90% of the children it targeted.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on the social media platform X, that Israel and Palestinian militants had largely observed humanitarian pauses to allow the campaign to proceed.

The vaccination drive showed that “when there is a political will, assistance can be provided without disruption,” Lazzarini wrote on Monday.

UNRWA is the main provider of humanitarian assistance in the coastal enclave. Health workers plan to administer a second dose of the vaccine at the end of this month.

The campaign was launched after the detection of Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years and sought to reach some 640,000 children under the age of 10. Health workers faced a host of challenges, including damaged roads, gutted health facilities and ongoing fighting nearly a year into the Israel-Hamas war.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister has told his U.S. counterpart that time is running out for an agreement with Hezbollah to halt the fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Yoav Gallant told Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that “the possibility for an agreed framework in the northern arena is running out as Hezbollah continues to ‘tie itself’ to Hamas.”

“The trajectory is clear,” Gallant added, according to a statement released from his office on Monday.

Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones into northern Israel after the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which was ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Both armed groups are allied with Iran, and Hezbollah says it is acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Israel has responded to the attacks with airstrikes and the targeted killing of Hezbollah commanders. It has threatened a wider operation, raising fears of another all-out war.

Hezbollah has said it will halt its attacks if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, but months of talks brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt have repeatedly stalled.

Hamas has demanded a lasting cease-fire and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as part of any agreement to release the scores of hostages it still holds from the Oct. 7 attack.

Gallant told Austin that “in any possible scenario, Israel’s defense establishment will continue to operate with the aim of dismantling Hamas and ensuring the return of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza — by any means.”

A police officer inspects the area around a fire after the military said it fired interceptors at a missile launched from Yemen that landed in central Israel on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli soldiers move next to destroyed buildings following Israeli strikes during a ground operation in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Israeli soldiers take up position next to buildings destroyed by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Israel-Hamas war latest: Israeli airstrikes kill 16 in Gaza, including 4 children, Palestinians say

Israel-Hamas war latest: Israeli airstrikes kill 16 in Gaza, including 4 children, Palestinians say

FILE -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attend a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 28, 2023. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)