FirstFT: Benjamin Netanyahu unveils postwar plan for Gaza

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Good morning. We start today with Benjamin Netanyahu’s long-term vision for Gaza’s governance once the war with Hamas has ended.

The one-page document, released overnight and entitled “The Day After Hamas Principles”, directly contradicts the objectives of the US, Israel’s closest ally.

It makes no mention of any role for the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank-based rival to Hamas that the Biden administration wants to see take over control of Gaza, and rejects international pressure for the recognition of a Palestinian state.

It also foresees a sizeable security buffer within the besieged enclave, an outcome the US has made clear it opposes, and says Israel will continue its long-running blockade of the territory.

The plan divides Gaza’s future into near, medium and long-term phases. It makes clear that Israel’s medium-term plan for the enclave, including the running of the local police force, schools and mosques, will only come into play after it declares victory in its military campaign against Hamas and the smaller Palestinian Islamic Jihad — a process that could still take many months.

The operation has already claimed the lives of at least 29,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to local health authorities.

Israel launched its war, now in its fourth month, after Hamas mounted a cross-border raid on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 240 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.

The US administration has yet to comment publicly on the document but here are more details from Mehul Srivastava and Neri Zilber in Tel Aviv.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:

• Israeli hostage talks: Israel is expected take part in negotiations this weekend in Paris with the US, Qatar and Egypt on a potential deal for a ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza. Middle East editor Andrew England has this briefing.

• Sanctions: The US is set to announce today a “major sanctions package” aimed at holding Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable for the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

• Results: Entertainment group Warner Bros Discovery is expected to update investors on its streaming plans when it reports quarterly earnings later today.

• South Carolina primary: Republican voters in the southern state will tomorrow choose their nominee for the 2024 US presidential election. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is expected to address the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland tomorrow before heading down to South Carolina for a rally.

How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.

Five more top stories

1. A McKinsey-led think-tank advised China to deepen co-operation between business and the military and push foreign companies out of sensitive industries as part of a project for the central government in 2015. The recommendations were made in a book commissioned by the Chinese government’s central planning agency, containing a foreword by one of McKinsey’s most senior partners in China. Read more on the work, previously unreported in western media.

2. European capitals are racing to raise $1.5bn in emergency funding to provide Ukraine with ammunition to shore up the front lines. The last-ditch scheme to buy ammunition from outside the EU is being spearheaded by the Czech Republic to compensate for the congressional deadlock on US aid and delays in European production. Here’s more on the plan to arm Ukraine.

3. A commercial space flight has successfully landed on the Moon for the first time, opening a new era of private lunar exploration. After an eight-day flight, US-based Intuitive Machines’ unmanned Odysseus lander touched down safely on the lunar surface, close to its target, the Malapert A crater near the Moon’s south pole. Read more on yesterday’s fraught landing.

4. A New York judge has scolded a law firm for citing ChatGPT to support its application for “excessive” attorneys’ fees of up to $600 an hour. The Cuddy Law Firm had invoked the predictive artificial intelligence tool in a declaration to the court over a case it won against the city’s education department. The judge called the law firm’s reliance on the AI tool “utterly and unusually unpersuasive”.

5. Standard Chartered’s chief executive Bill Winters said the bank’s “crap” share price did not reflect its true value, as fourth-quarter profits surged almost tenfold. The bank’s share price rose 8 per cent following the comments earlier today but it has fallen about a third since Winters took the helm in June 2015. Read more on Winters’ comments about the UK-headquartered bank.

News in-depth

With conflict and geopolitical tensions rising around the world, defence contractors in Europe are ramping up production after decades of under-investment. Global defence spending hit a record $2.2tn last year, while it rose to $388bn in Europe, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Here are the weapons makers benefiting from the region’s defence revival.

What we’re also reading 

• Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva: Brazil’s president has been declared persona non grata in Israel after comments he made comparing the death toll in the air and land offensive in Gaza to the Holocaust. The row highlights the divergence of the global north and south over the Israel-Hamas war.

• Trump on trade: A second Donald Trump term would be different, FT economics columnist Soumaya Keynes writes. Expect more emphasis on global trade deficits, more dramatic intervention and bigger problems for Europe.

• Jobs market: Cognitive flexibility matters, writes Gillian Tett. A recent study found “double majors experience substantial protection against earnings shocks”.

Chart of the day

Texas is not generally given to pursuing socially beneficial projects. But when it comes to housebuilding the red state can teach New York, San Francisco and London a lesson about how to attract young families through urban development. And it’s not just that cities like Houston simply have more space to build on, argues the FT’s chief data reporter John Burn-Murdoch.

Take a break from the news

The way Samara Joy performs feels like canonical jazz. Timeless. In one song, she’s Betty Carter. In another, Sarah Vaughan. Old New York. But she is not old at all. With her more than 1.3mn followers across social platforms, this 24-year-old, three-time Grammy winner is reinventing a genre for a new generation of music lovers.

Additional contributions from Grace Ramos and Benjamin Wilhelm