1 ISRAEL/GAZA
Ceasef ire hopes in balance as Rafah strikes begin
Prospects for a ceasefire in the seven-month Israel-Hamas war were in the balance this week as talks continued in Cairo and Israeli military forces took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Aid officials in the territory said the flow of aid through the crossing had been halted. The Israeli military also began conducting targeted strikes against Hamas in Rafah, after calling for Palestinians in several neighbourhoods to leave for an “expanded humanitarian area” to the west and north of the city before a ground incursion.
The Israeli operation took place before a fresh round of indirect negotiations on a ceasefire in Cairo after Hamas leaders indicated on Monday night that they would accept a recent proposal for a deal. Israeli officials said they would engage with talks, although the terms did not meet their demands.
On Monday hundreds of Israelis rallied around the country, urging Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to agree to the terms of a ceasefire deal. Israel estimates that 128 of the 250 hostages abducted by militants on 7 October remain in Gaza, including 35 whom the military says are dead.
2 RUSSIA
Kremlin orders nuclear drills after ‘western threats’
Moscow has threatened to strike British military facilities and ordered Russian troops to hold battlefield nuclear weapons drills in a move described as a response to comments from the French president, Emmanuel Macron,
