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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Israel’s northern border remained on high alert after an overnight exchange of fire with Hizbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militia, while Israel’s army continued to battle Hamas in Gaza. Several Israeli soldiers were injured in Hizbollah rocket attacks on Sunday morning. The strikes came after Israeli aircraft targeted the group’s infrastructure, which was retaliation for an attack on electricity workers earlier in the day. “The IDF has operational plans to change the security status in the north,” a spokesperson warned on Sunday night.
In news: the latest developments
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Gaza’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, is in the crosshairs of the Israeli military, which has surrounded it with tanks. Fuel has nearly run out, and WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has described a “dire and perilous” situation at a hospital that has ceased to function. Israel has said the hospital is a cover for a large underground Hamas network. EU and US officials appear to agree but have implored Israel to show restraint as it takes control of the site. “We urge Israel to exercise maximum restraint to ensure the protection of civilians,” said Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat.
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The US military has carried out strikes against facilities in eastern Syria “used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran-affiliated groups” in response to attacks on American personnel in the Middle East, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said. The US had earlier moved two aircraft carrier groups and strengthened its military presence as it sought to deter Iran and its militias, including Hizbollah, from escalating hostilities against Israel.
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Palestinian officials say 11,078 Gaza residents have been killed in Israeli bombardments since the start of the war, which was triggered by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 that killed more than 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials.
‘Video of horrors’: the tech entrepreneur on a mission to tell Israel’s story
Mattan Harel-Fisch is the editor responsible for a 44-minute compilation of footage from bodycams, mobile phones and other sources that has been shown to selected audiences in Tel Aviv, London and New York. The existence of the video has gone viral as reports and rumours of its content have spread, a chronicle of the dead taking on a life of its own.
“Here it was captured by hundreds and maybe thousands of different clips . . . across a massive crime scene. I think [this makes it] harder to grasp how enormous this event was,” he told the Financial Times from the army base in Tel Aviv where he works.
He said the video aimed to prove to the world that the atrocities committed on October 7 did happen — dispelling the “ridiculous debate” over the idea that the attacks were exaggerated.
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Analysis: Does Israel have a road map for Gaza’s future?
“Israel, its western allies and the Palestinians are in uncharted territory. The unparalleled ferocity of Israel’s response has exacerbated the lack of clarity about Gaza’s postwar future as no one knows when or how the war will end. It is also not clear what it means in practice to destroy an organisation that has a political as well as a military arm, and which has, for the past 16 years been integral to the bureaucracy and provision of public services in Gaza.”
James Shotter and Andrew England
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In maps: a visual guide to the Israel-Hamas war
Israel is facing international scrutiny over attacks on civilian infrastructure in Gaza. Dire conditions have been reported in Gaza’s hospitals, particularly al-Shifa, where thousands of people have sought refuge. Al-Rantisi and al-Nasser children’s hospitals are also under siege. Israel says al-Shifa sits atop a Hamas command centre and a dense network of underground tunnels used by the militant group.
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Read more at ft.com/israel-hamas-war
