WORLD BRIEFING: October 25, 2023
Israel-Gaza War
Hamas says more than 700 people were killed in Gaza in the past 24 hours, marking the deadliest day since Israel launched airstrikes on the territory in retaliation for the 7 October attack in southern Israel in which at least 1,400 people were killed and 222 others were taken hostage. The mounting death toll currently stands at nearly 5,800 casualties in Gaza - BBC
UNRWA, the main UN agency working in Gaza said it will be forced to halt its operations later today due to a lack of fuel. Doctors in overwhelmed hospitals on the brink of shutting down have repeatedly warned that waves of new patients injured in the daily bombings and babies relying on oxygen supplies will die if fuel is not brought in. Just eight out of 20 aid trucks scheduled to cross into Gaza on Tuesday made the journey, UNRWA said. No specific reason was given as to why the other 12 trucks didn't make it - CNN
The UN chief says he is "deeply concerned about the clear violations of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing in Gaza" Antonio Guterres condemns both the use of civilians as "human shields" and the bombing of southern Gaza after an evacuation order
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Derdan, has demanded UN chief Antonio Guterres resign after Guterres said the Hamas attacks did not happen in a "vacuum". Erdan said: "There is no justification or point in talking to those who show understanding for the most terrible acts committed against the citizens of Israel — no less by a declared terrorist organisation". On X, the ambassador said: "I call on [Guterres] to resign immediately.” He added: “The shocking speech by the @UN Secretary-General at the Security Council meeting, while rockets are being fired at all of Israel, proved conclusively, beyond any doubt, that the Secretary-General is completely disconnected from the reality in our region and that he views the massacre committed by Nazi Hamas terrorists in a distorted and immoral manner.“
Context: the relationship b/w Israel and the UN has almost always been fractious. Israel has been angered by anti Israel resolutions/statements at the UN and also the use of some terminology. Israel has often shown itself to be displeased with the work of UN agencies and their public statements in the West Bank and Gaza
An elderly Israeli hostage who was released by Hamas overnight said she was beaten by militants as she was taken into Gaza on Oct. 7, as her husband's whereabouts remain unknown.
The Israel Defense Forces believes that in order to attain the government’s stated objectives in the war against the Hamas terror group, the military must begin its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip sooner rather than later, The Times of Israel learned Monday. The Times of Israel learned that, after 16 days of airstrikes, the IDF has told the government that it is fully prepared for a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, and believes it can achieve the goals set out for it, even at the risk of heavy casualties to soldiers, and amid ongoing attacks by Hezbollah in the north. But the military fears that the government may not ever give the order to begin the ground offensive, or postpone it for a lengthy period.
Elsewhere
Russia's Black Sea Fleet was engaged early on October 24 in repelling a Ukrainian attack on the Crimean city of Sevastopol, the Moscow-installed governor of the Black Sea port has said. Meanwhile l, U.S. President Joe Biden wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the success of Ukraine and Israel in their current wars is "vital to our national security."
Several well-monied think tanks focusing on artificial intelligence policy have sprung up in Washington, D.C. in recent months, with most linked to the billionaire-backed effective altruism (EA) movement that has made preventing an AI apocalypse one of its top priorities. Funded by people like Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, their goal is to influence how U.S. lawmakers regulate AI, which has become one of the hottest topics on Capitol Hill since the release of ChatGPT last year. Some of the groups are pushing for limits on the development of advanced AI models or increased restrictions on semiconductor exports to China. One previously unreported group was co-founded by Eric Gastfriend, an entrepreneur who runs a telehealth startup for addiction treatment with his father. Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI) plans to “become one of the major players influencing AI policy,” according to a job listing. Gastfriend told Semafor he is entirely self-funding the project - Semafor
A Canadian court has approved a staggering $23 billion settlement agreement — the largest in Canadian history — for First Nations children and families who experienced racial discrimination through Ottawa's alleged underfunding of the on-reserve foster care system and other family services, CBC reports. The settlement agreement follows a 2019 Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) ruling that ordered Ottawa to pay the maximum human rights penalty for discrimination: $40,000 for each affected First Nations child and family member. Ottawa fought the order but eventually negotiated an agreement after it faced two class action suits. On top of the $23 billion for compensation, the government set aside an additional $20 billion for long-term reform of the on-reserve child welfare system and family services
Required reading…
How China Could Turn Crisis to Catastrophe
A war over Taiwan would devastate the economies of both Asia and the globe.
Lulled into complacency by a long era of peace, most of us have yet to appreciate fully the dangers we face. Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the Hamas attack on Israel should have made clear that we live in an era when the unthinkable can happen overnight. These days, we must not only learn to think about the unthinkable, in nuclear strategist Herman Kahn’s phrase. We also need to prepare for it.
Read the full Wall Street Journal oped here