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Roula Khalaf, editor of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Last situation
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that he hopes a “firm and final agreement” on a temporary ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages can be reached “in the coming days”, following progress in negotiations in the weekend.
Sullivan said in an interview with CNN that negotiators from the United States, Israel, Egypt and Qatar had come to an “understanding” on the “basic contours” of a deal during talks in Paris, although the details have yet to be defined.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday described Hamas’ demands as “delusional” and said the militant group must back down before any progress can be made.
The talks took place as Israel prepares to launch a new offensive in Rafah, which has raised fears of further devastating damage to Palestinian civilians. The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has warned Netanyahu not to order an attack unless he has a plan to protect civilians.
“There’s room for them [civilians] go north of Rafah, to the place where we have already finished fighting,” Netanyahu told CBS, but also noted that hostilities are still ongoing in northern Gaza.
Israel’s incursion into Gaza: October 2023 to today
The Israel Defense Forces launched air and ground offensives in Gaza following the brutal October 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel.
According to Israeli officials, Hamas killed more than 1,200 people and seized about 250 hostages. According to Palestinian officials, the IDF response has killed more than 29,500 people in Gaza.
A temporary truce between the two sides in November allowed the release of around 105 Israeli women and children and foreigners held hostage. This occurred in exchange for the release of approximately 240 Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons.
The Israeli army carried out one of the largest bombing campaigns in history on the small blockaded enclave.
Satellite data shows the toll the war has taken on Gaza’s infrastructure and homes, with much of the Palestinian enclave’s two largest cities in ruins, including entire neighborhoods destroyed.
The Israeli military could not say how many troops it has committed to the war – its largest operation in years – but satellite images and tracking data show a significant incursion.
Data tracking the movement of Israeli forces between October 31 and December 31 shows they are tightening their hold on Gaza City, surrounding al-Shifa hospital and taking the territory of Khan Younis.
Satellite images released since October 31 show that, after breaching the barrier wall in at least six places, Israeli columns cut through Gaza’s sparsely populated farmland south of the border, before moving deeper into the strip towards more areas. populated.
Aid agencies have warned of dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, including a lack of sufficient water, food, medicine and fuel.
Gaza’s only power plant went offline on October 11 due to fuel shortages, and the outage was captured on nightly satellite images.
Hamas attack on Israel: October 7, 2023
While much of Israel slept, Hamas militants launched an unprecedented multi-pronged attack on the country from the Gaza Strip at dawn. The Middle East’s most powerful security force was caught by surprise.
Launched during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, the assault began in the early hours with thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities. The barrage triggered warning sirens throughout the south and center of the country, forcing citizens to flee to air raid shelters.
The Israeli military said Gaza-based militants fired more than 4,500 rockets over that weekend. Many were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, but satellite images showed fires and plumes of black smoke rising from some affected locations.
Hundreds of Hamas fighters attacked simultaneously by land, air and sea, repeatedly breaching the fortified barrier between Gaza and Israel.
Images and videos showed motorcycles carrying armed militants driving through a hole in a metal fence along the border and a bulldozer destroying part of the barrier. Bombs, rockets and drones could also be seen blowing up the fence and defensive positions.
Militants used motorized paragliders to attack the Supernova music festival, not far from the Gaza border, flying in and turning the two-day rave into the site of a massacre.
Gunmen chased young Israelis across the desert, shooting and kidnapping people and taking them back to Gaza as hostages. The Israeli army did not respond for hours, apparently taken by surprise by the attack. Hundreds of bodies were recovered from the site.
After breaching the Gaza fence, armed Hamas fighters began targeting Israeli communities in several locations, going door to door and taking hostages. Hamas militants have also attacked Israeli military sites.
Images and videos show people lying dead in the streets after execution-like killings and residents, including women, children and the elderly, being taken away.
More than 1,200 Israeli civilians and soldiers were killed, the IDF said, making it the deadliest attack on the country since its founding.
The complexity of Hamas’s onslaught was unlike anything Israel has witnessed in decades. This has raised serious questions about the security services’ intelligence gathering and the military’s preparation for an attack.
On October 9, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu imposed a “full siege” on Gaza, calling up a record 300,000 reservists and ordering a strike on the Strip from the air.
The Israeli army also ordered the evacuation of 42 communities along the northern border, where Israelis died in a cross-border fire that Israel blamed on Hezbollah or Lebanon-based Palestinian factions – part of the “Axis of Resistance ” supported by Iran.
Visual and Data Team: Jana Tauschinski, Janina Conboye, Pietro Andringa, Steven Bernard, Chris Campbell, Sam Joiner, Lucia Rodgers AND Alan Smith