FirstFT: Israel expands offensive to target West Bank

Stay informed with free updates

Simply sign up to the World myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.

Israel has bombed targets in Syria and Lebanon and carried out a raid in the occupied West Bank as its war with Hamas entered a new phase.

In an update this morning on the latest phase of its war against Hamas, the Israeli military said it had hit more than 600 targets in Gaza in recent days, including weapons depots, anti-tank missile launching posts and hide-outs used by militants, as it continued to build up its ground operations in the coastal enclave.

Israel’s ground operation in northern Gaza began on Friday night, with tanks and ground troops crossing the border accompanied by air strikes as the Israel Defense Forces prepare to battle Hamas fighters.

Overnight, Israel said it bombed “military infrastructure” in Syria and carried out a raid in the city of Jenin in the northern part of the West Bank.

It also struck targets in Lebanon after rockets were fired deeper into northern Israel than at any point since the outbreak of fighting on October 7 after Hamas gunmen entered Israel and killed 1,700 people and took more than 230 hostages.

The move to the ground phase of the war comes as UNRWA, the main UN agency providing relief in Gaza, warned that law and order was beginning to break down in the coastal enclave. It said thousands of desperate Palestinians had broken into its warehouses over the weekend and stolen flour and other staples.

Yesterday, the Hamas-controlled health ministry said the death toll in Gaza since the start of the Israeli offensive had risen to 8,005 while 20,242 had been injured.

In a call with Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night, US president Joe Biden said there was a need to “immediately and significantly increase the flow of humanitarian assistance” to civilians in Gaza, the White House said. Here’s the latest on the war.

And more of our coverage and analysis of the conflict:

• Israel’s ground offensive: The seemingly limited scope of Israel’s initial incursion into Gaza is aimed at maximising its firepower advantage over Hamas and minimising its own casualties, current and former officials said.

• Hostage talks: Israel and Hamas have continued indirect negotiations over the release of civilians held by the Palestinian militant group despite Israeli forces moving deeper into Gaza.

• Netanyahu apologises: Israel’s prime minister was forced to apologise after a furious backlash over his claim that the security establishment had not warned him of Hamas’s plan to attack the country.

• Elon Musk angers Israel: An offer by the Tesla chief executive and owner of social media platform X to provide satellite internet through his SpaceX Starlink satellite network to Gaza aid groups has angered Israel.

• Mob storms Dagestan airport: Angry crowds brandishing Palestinian flags and reportedly searching for Israeli passengers on a flight from Tel Aviv rushed through the airport and encircled the plane, with some attempting to board it.

And here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Apple: The tech giant is expected to unveil new Macs at its “Scary Fast” product launch event.

• Google: Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google’s parent Alphabet, is slated to take the stand in the search engine’s antitrust trial.

• Earnings: McDonald’s and Pinterest release third-quarter results.

Five more top stories

1. Companies whose artificial intelligence models could threaten US national security will have to share how they are ensuring their tools’ safety under a sweeping order by Joe Biden intended to curb risks posed by the new technology. The order, which the US president issued today, is the broadest step taken by the administration in tackling AI threats and comes as technology chiefs and world leaders prepare to meet this week for an AI summit in the UK.

• AI investment warning: Artificial intelligence start-ups are overvalued and most will fail to make money, according to Vinod Khosla, an early OpenAI backer.

1. US chipmaker Broadcom and cloud software company VMware have delayed the completion of their $69bn merger. The Financial Times reported earlier this month that China is considering delaying its approval of the deal that was due to close today. In a joint statement neither company mentioned China but said that their expectation was “that Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware will close soon”.

3. The chief executive of HSBC said he believed China’s property sector had hit its lowest ebb and could begin to recover, even as banks take hundreds of millions of dollars in charges over their exposure to a crisis in the sector. Noel Quinn said Beijing’s most dramatic actions to rein in excesses in the industry were over. He was speaking as the bank reported third-quarter earnings, including a $500mn provision related to commercial property in mainland China.

4. Zhang Youxia, China’s most senior military official, delivered a veiled rebuke of the US in a speech earlier today at the Xiangshan security forum. Zhang, who is second only to Chinese leader Xi Jinping in commanding the People’s Liberation Army, accused “certain countries” of “continuing to stir trouble around the world”, criticism that was widely seen as aimed at the US. Here’s more of his comments.

5. Just days before Federal Reserve officials hunkered down to prepare for this week’s policy meeting, chair Jay Powell conceded that the US central bank’s difficult job had become even trickier. “A range of uncertainties, both old and new, complicate our task of balancing the risk of tightening monetary policy too much against the risk of tightening too little,” he told an audience at the Economic Club of New York. Here’s the full preview of this week’s decision from US economics editor Colby Smith.

• Bank of Japan: Expectations are rising that Japan’s central bank will relax its grip on the bond market this week as the yen tests a 33-year low and government bond yields touch the highest levels in a decade.

• Lunch with the FT: European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde sits down with the FT to discuss steep learning curves, managing shocks and taking deep breaths.

The Big Read

Despite the widely held belief that dementia is destined to rise exponentially as global populations age, the prospects of avoiding the condition seem stronger today than they were a generation ago — at least in the developed world. Research shows the number of new cases in Europe and North America has been dropping for years, while there are early signs of Japan showing the same phenomenon. Here’s what experts say is behind the unexpected trend.

We’re also reading . . . 

• War in Ukraine: Russia has poured troops, bombs and artillery into a new offensive on the eastern industrial city of Avdiivka.

• Gender gap: Law firms are under pressure to make more women partners, with senior ranks still dominated by men despite recent progress.

• ‘The next domino to fall’: A string of dramatic U-turns by Donald Trump’s former lawyers has turned the former US president’s most high-profile allies into potential liabilities.

Chart of the day

Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker by sales, has indicated in recent weeks that it is close to a manufacturing breakthrough for solid-state batteries, a key component of electric vehicles. Here’s how the potentially game-changing technology could transform transport.

Take a break from the news

From utility bills to Aston Martins — meet the VIP relocation agents. Their role is a unique mash-up of personal assistant, estate agent and therapist and there is a growing demand for such services.

Additional contributions from Tee Zhuo and Benjamin Wilhelm