FirstFT: US warns Israel on southern Gaza offensive

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President Joe Biden and other senior US officials have warned Israel that its planned offensive in southern Gaza must avoid the kind of internal displacement triggered by the bombardment of the enclave’s northern areas, a senior US administration official has said.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken will prioritise the protection of civilians in Gaza and will press for more aid to be delivered on an expected visit to Israel, the West Bank and the United Arab Emirates this week.

The statement came after Qatar said mediators had secured a deal to prolong the truce between Israel and Hamas by two days to allow the release of more hostages held in Gaza. The announcement on extending the initial four-day pause came as Benjamin Netanyahu’s government faced mounting domestic and international pressure to provide more time for hostages to be freed.

The Israeli military said on Monday evening that a further 11 hostages had been released by Hamas. Qatar said Israel had freed a further 33 Palestinian prisoners. Read the latest from the war.

Here’s what else I’m watching today:

• Federal Reserve: Board governor Christopher Waller will speak on the economic outlook before an American Enterprise Institute event in Washington. His fellow board governor Michelle Bowman will be speaking on “Monetary Policy and the Economy” at a Utah Bankers Association breakfast in Salt Lake City.

• US economic data: The Conference Board will release its consumer confidence survey today.

• Nato: Foreign ministers gather in Brussels for a meeting chaired by secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg. Discussions are likely to focus on the war in Ukraine.

After expanding our ranking of Africa’s fastest-growing companies this year, the FT is seeking entries for the third annual list, to be published in early June 2024. Apply here to be considered.

Five more top stories

1. Barclays is exploring a plan to drop thousands of clients at its investment bank as part of a strategic overhaul that is meant to boost profits and cut £1bn of costs. Chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan is under pressure to reduce reliance on investment banking and return more capital to investors, with a public announcement expected in February.

2. Exclusive: Some of the world’s biggest consulting firms are asking staff to use burner phones when they visit Hong Kong. Deloitte and KPMG have advised some US-based executives not to use their usual work phones in the territory, a sign of the increasing difficulties global companies face in a city long known as an international business hub. Some senior staff are reluctant to visit Hong Kong as a result of the inconvenience of leaving devices behind.

3. Tesla’s refusal to sign a collective agreement risks undermining the Swedish model of labour relations that has underpinned the country’s success, said the head of the union behind the strike against the car company in the Scandinavian nation. Developed in the 1930s, the model — with employers and unions taking joint decisions on the labour market — is considered central to Sweden’s prosperity.

4. US consumers were spending their way to the biggest online shopping day ever on Monday. Sales were forecast to be at least $12bn on so-called Cyber Monday, when vendors promote discounts online following Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales last week, according to Adobe Analytics. It compares with $11.3bn on the same day last year.

5. Funding for European tech companies is set to plunge by nearly half this year, according to a report by London-based venture capital group Atomico. As US investors abandon the continent amid a global retreat by venture capital, the amount of money raised by tech start-ups in Europe is expected to reach about $45bn in 2023, down from $82bn last year.

The Big Read

The UAE’s transactional approach to the UN’s COP28 climate summit, which kicks off in Dubai on Thursday, has included the hosts planning to offer to develop oil and gas projects with more than a dozen countries during the event’s official talks. But an analysis by the Financial Times shows UAE state companies and funds were also linked to almost$200bn in investments, mostly in green energy, in the year leading up to the summit.

What we’re also reading . . . 

• JPMorgan vs Citi: JPMorgan Chase is seeking to break Citigroup’s stranglehold on some of Wall Street’s wealthiest clients by stepping up efforts to lure New York’s top lawyers to its private bank.

• ‘Leaving without leaving’: Argentines are flocking to Uruguay to avoid a high tax burden. Just an hour’s boat ride away sits a haven from economic instability — with increasingly attractive tax breaks for foreigners, as well as good security and public services.

• Team Tolkien: A new JRR Tolkien exhibition in Rome highlights how Giorgia Meloni’s government sees the fantasy epic, The Lord of the Rings, as an allegory for its own political ideology, writes Amy Kazmin.

Chart of the day

Turkey’s exports to Russia of goods vital for Moscow’s war machine have soared this year, heightening concerns among the US and its allies that the country is acting as a conduit for sensitive items from their own manufacturers. In the first nine months of 2023, Turkey reported $158mn of exports of 45 goods the US lists as “high-priority” to Russia and five former Soviet countries suspected of acting as intermediaries for Moscow.

Take a break from the news

As Christmas nears and the panic over presents begins to set in, celebrity chef Matty Matheson provides some guidance on what to gift food lovers.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Gary Jones