Daily News Brief

October 26, 2023

Top of the Agenda

Israel’s military said the overnight operation aimed to prepare the battlefield (NYT) for its next stage of combat. In a speech last night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not offer details about the scope of a potential Israeli ground invasion in the Gaza Strip. U.S. officials have pressed Israel to delay the incursion amid ongoing talks over hostages and humanitarian aid. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said it had begun to significantly reduce its operations in Gaza after nearly exhausting its fuel.

At the UN Security Council yesterday, competing U.S.- and Russia-backed resolutions calling for a pause in fighting were both vetoed (Bloomberg). The UN General Assembly is due to take up the matter today. Israel’s military says that since Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October 7 attack, it has struck more than seven thousand targets (NYT) inside Gaza in its bombing campaign, more than any other Israeli military campaign in the territory. 

Analysis

“As Israel’s operations in Gaza escalate, the war will take an unfathomable toll on civilians,” Arab Barometer’s Amaney A. Jamal and Michael Robbins write for Foreign Affairs. “Our research has shown that Israeli crackdowns in Gaza most often lead to increasing support and sympathy for Hamas among ordinary Gazans.”

“Neither the Gaza crisis nor the Israeli-Palestinian conflict writ large has a military solution,” the International Crisis Group writes. “The best option now is for the U.S. and its allies to press Israel to pause the bombardment, honor its pledge to allow humanitarian access to Gaza and lay out conditions for a permanent ceasefire, including for Gaza’s reconstruction.” 

Read the full suite of Foreign Affairs and CFR.org resources on Israel and the current conflict.

Pacific Rim

Nearly one hundred officials are being recruited ahead of a landmark meeting next week to be part of the Central Financial Commission, a new and powerful watchdog in China’s $61 trillion financial sector, the Financial Times reported. The new body will weaken the central bank's power. 

Japan: The Supreme Court unanimously ruled yesterday that it is unconstitutional (NYT) for transgender people to be required to undergo sterilization in order to legally change their gender identity. LGBTQ+ rights advocates celebrated the ruling.

On this episode of The President’s Inbox, Julie Dorf discusses how to advance LGBTQ+ rights around the world. 

South and Central Asia

India’s government said it would accept Canadian visa applications (The Hindu) for select purposes, including business, medical, or conferences. The move comes a month after visas were stalled over Canada’s claims that Indian agents were involved in the June killing of a Canadian Sikh activist. Tourism visas remain suspended.

Afghanistan: The Taliban government’s relief efforts following a series of deadly earthquakes over the last two weeks are falling short due to a lack of equipment and human expertise, aid workers told NPR.

For Think Global Health, Mustafa Basij Rasikh and Alyssa Sharkey explain the urgent need for Taliban responsibility over Afghanistan’s health-care system. 

Middle East and North Africa

A business summit in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, was instead overtaken by discussions about the ongoing war, with Saudi officials calling for diplomacy to contain the conflict. Saudi Arabia’s finance minister said he did not want to derail de-escalation efforts (Bloomberg) in the region that occurred before the start of the war.

Sub-Saharan Africa

A further thirty-four million Africans have been affected by the year’s extreme weather, an investigation by news site Carbon Brief said, based on disaster data, humanitarian reports, and local news stories. The extreme events were related to the El Niño weather phenomenon combined with record-high temperatures, scientists said. 

This article by CFR’s Noah Berman and Sabine Baumgartner looks back at this year’s unprecedented season of extreme weather. 

Angola/DRC/Zambia: The European Union (EU) and United States are preparing to sign a memorandum of understanding regarding a corridor to connect southern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and northwestern Zambia to an Angola port for Atlantic Ocean access, Bloomberg reported.

Europe

At a meeting in Brussels today, European leaders are discussing the prospect (Euronews) of a joint call for a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas war. They are also preparing a statement of support for Ukraine in its war efforts.

Armenia/Azerbaijan: Armenia’s prime minister said today that his government could sign a peace agreement (Politico) with Azerbaijan in the coming months, and unveiled a plan to reopen roads and railways that have been long blocked with its neighbor. The two governments have experienced hostile relations for three decades.

Americas

Center-right Patricia Bullrich was knocked out of Argentina’s presidential race on Sunday in the first round of voting. She has endorsed far-right Javier Milei (AP) ahead of the country’s run-off election on November 19. Milei is up against Economy Minister Sergio Massa, who won the most votes in the first round.

U.S./Guatemala: The United States threatened to apply sanctions (Reuters) on Guatemala if the democratic process in the country is not respected as a presidential transition approaches, a top State Department official said. Washington and other international actors have criticized efforts to block President-Elect Bernardo Arévalo de León from taking office.

United States

The House of Representatives elected Mike Johnson (R-LA) as speaker (NYT) yesterday following more than twenty days without leadership. Johnson is a hard-line conservative who led congressional efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

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