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President Joe Biden plans to go to Israel tomorrow to “reaffirm the US’s solidarity with Israel and our ironclad dedication to its safety”, mentioned secretary of state Antony Blinken.
Talking after conferences with senior Israeli leaders in Tel Aviv, Blinken mentioned the US president can be “coming right here at a vital second for Israel, for the area and the world” and would clarify that Israel has the fitting “and certainly the responsibility to defend its individuals from Hamas and different terrorists and to stop future assaults”.
Blinken additionally mentioned that at Washington’s request, the US and Israel had agreed to “develop a plan” for humanitarian assist to succeed in civilians in Gaza, “together with the opportunity of creating areas to assist hold civilians out of hurt’s method”. He added: “It’s vital that assist start flowing into Gaza as quickly as potential”.
The announcement of Biden’s journey got here after a US-led effort to permit assist into the Gaza Strip faltered yesterday. Individuals within the Hamas-controlled territory have “severely restricted entry to wash consuming water”, the UN warned, whereas a fifth consecutive day with out electrical energy was pushing companies resembling well being and sanitation to “the brink of collapse”.
The US and regional powers have been pushing Israel to permit assist into Gaza and urging Egypt to open the Rafah crossing between its territory and the south of the bombarded enclave for different international locations’ passport holders. They’re additionally searching for to comprise hostilities, amid fears that the struggle between Israel and Hamas might set off a broader regional battle.
John Kirby, the US Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson, mentioned that after visiting Israel, Biden would journey to Amman to satisfy the leaders of Jordan and Egypt and would additionally meet Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, throughout a one-day journey to the area. Here are the latest updates from the war.
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Utopia destroyed: Tens of hundreds of Israelis have fled the “Gaza envelope” after Hamas’s assault, with Kfar Aza’s kibbutzniks not sure when they’ll really feel secure sufficient to return.
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Egypt’s fears: Alarm is mounting in Cairo that the deepening humanitarian disaster in Gaza will enhance strain on it to just accept an exodus of Palestinian refugees.
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Hamas funding: Israeli authorities have ordered dozens of cryptocurrency accounts to be closed and seized tens of millions of {dollars}’ in crypto belongings as they step up longstanding efforts to chop the militant group’s digital financing.
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Opinion: Compassion for harmless individuals struggling on all sides of this battle isn’t just the ethical place — additionally it is the one sensible method ahead, writes Gideon Rachman.
Right here’s what else I’m preserving tabs on in the present day:
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Financial knowledge: ZEW releases outcomes from its financial sentiment survey for Germany, the UK publishes unemployment and earnings knowledge, and the US has retail gross sales figures.
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Ecofin: The EU’s Financial and Monetary Affairs Council meets to debate a evaluation of the bloc’s financial governance framework for member states.
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Scottish Nationwide celebration: Humza Yousaf speaks on the final day of his celebration’s convention in Aberdeen. For extra UK politics, sign up for our Inside Politics newsletter.
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Outcomes: Financial institution of America, Ericsson, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Jupiter Fund Administration and Lockheed Martin report.
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FT Africa summit: Be part of African enterprise leaders and worldwide traders in the present day in London and on-line to discover how macro traits are impacting economics and enterprise on the continent. Sign up here.
Don’t miss the primary concern of our new Central Banks publication in the present day. Chris Giles will use his practically 20 years of expertise because the FT’s economics editor to offer weekly insights on rates of interest and financial coverage. Sign up here if you happen to’re a premium subscriber or upgrade your subscription.
5 extra high tales
1. Two Swedes have been shot useless in Brussels in an assault authorities have linked to terrorism. The phobia risk alert in Belgium’s capital was raised to its highest degree, the primary time this has occurred since Islamist terrorist assaults in 2016 killed 35 individuals. The taking pictures passed off after hundreds of Swedes had arrived in Brussels for a Euro 2024 soccer match. The alleged shooter is still at large.
2. Unique: EU regulators will search more durable concessions from airways trying to merge with the intention to guarantee truthful competitors, the bloc’s new antitrust commissioner has mentioned. In his first interview since taking on the function, Didier Reynders mentioned Brussels will ask airways to make sure slots are allotted to rivals on routes with competitors issues. Read the full interview here.
3. Rolls-Royce is getting ready to chop about 2,500 white-collar jobs as a part of a significant restructuring by its new chief government geared toward streamlining operations and boosting returns. The transfer, which represents an virtually 6 per cent reduce to the UK aerospace and defence firm’s world workforce, is predicted as early as in the present day. Sylvia Pfeifer has more details from London.
4. Donald Tusk is on observe to safe energy in Poland, with the previous European Council president gaining the higher hand over the ruling Regulation and Justice (PiS) celebration in parliamentary elections. PiS gave the impression to be getting ready to dropping workplace after virtually all votes have been counted, failing to acquire a majority. Here’s more on the EU’s most significant election this year.
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Opinion: For now, pro-European Poles have purpose to have a good time, however a real check of the nation’s democratic well being will probably be an orderly transfer of power, writes Ben Corridor.
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Go deeper: Polish voters showed up in unprecedented numbers on the poll field to safe a surprising victory for opposition events, with participation estimated at 73 per cent.
5. Donald Trump is keen to testify within the UK in his lawsuit over a file that alleged he had hyperlinks to Russia, he advised London’s Excessive Courtroom in a written witness assertion yesterday. The previous US president is suing Orbis Enterprise Intelligence over the infamous file compiled by its co-founder, former MI6 spy Christopher Steele. The file made headlines globally in early 2017 and included lurid allegations about Trump’s conduct in a Moscow hotel.
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Trump and Israel: Donald Trump is going through fierce rebukes from throughout the US political spectrum for criticising Benjamin Netanyahu within the wake of the Hamas assaults.
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US politics: Federal filings present that Trump and Biden have raised far more money for his or her election campaigns within the third quarter than their rivals.
The Large Learn
![Graphic image showing a space-based solar panel](https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F1b2be0cf-d723-4401-afbf-832d147f8818.jpg?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
It was science fiction author Isaac Asimov who first mooted the thought of house solar energy in his 1941 quick story “Cause”. In actuality, nonetheless, it has lengthy been dismissed as too pricey and technologically difficult to be commercially viable. However because the sense of urgency over the specter of local weather change grows and the economics of house evolve, governments all over the world are reconsidering its potential.
We’re additionally studying . . .
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US arms help: Israel’s struggle on Hamas is straining a US defence sector already below strain to arm Ukraine and replenish depleted Pentagon shares.
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Warfare disinformation: Amateurs dashing to doc atrocities in Israel and Gaza must not spread darkness the place they intend to shed mild, writes Bellingcat’s Giancarlo Fiorella.
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Geopolitical danger: Firms are more and more searching for out former diplomats, politicians and civil servants to boost political expertise on their boards.
Graphic of the day
Overlaying an space roughly 1 / 4 of London, Gaza is extra crowded in components than Manhattan, and its inhabitants of two.3mn contains virtually as many youngsters as adults. Its extraordinary demographics are exacerbating the humanitarian disaster unfolding as Israel prepares to step up its offensive in opposition to Hamas. Here’s what we know about the besieged territory — in charts.
![Map comparing population density of Gaza with London. Gaza’s overall population density is similar to London, but many areas are up to six times as dense](https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd6c748xw2pzm8.cloudfront.net%2Fprod%2Fd20dee60-6a8f-11ee-8b57-9d370cfe55ee-standard.png?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
Take a break from the information
Would you eat a cricket crisp? Insect proteins are a robust new ingredient. Within the type of meat substitutes, they’ve the potential to scale back greenhouse fuel emissions related to standard meat by as much as 97 per cent. But there are hurdles, including the “yuck factor”.
![](https://www.ft.com/__origami/service/image/v2/images/raw/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F0ea214ce-a271-4a4c-a663-abd806516865.png?source=next-article&fit=scale-down&quality=highest&width=700&dpr=1)
Extra contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Gordon Smith