🌍 Israel’s rolling invasion of Gaza

Hi there Intriguer. Because why not, here’s footage of the Czech president accidentally knocking a guard’s hat off with a flag pole. The president followed up with a charming apology on Twitter.

Today’s briefing is a 5 min read:

• 🚨 Israel’s rolling invasion of Gaza.

• 🇨🇱 Chile’s state-owned copper giant slumps further.

• ➕ Plus: How the papers are covering the latest developments in Sudan, and a pretty dramatic way to avoid your bills.

1. 🇰🇷 South Korea: The Supreme Court of South Korea has ordered the government to return a 14th-century Buddha statue to Japan, ending a decade-long dispute between the countries. Thieves stole the statue in 2012, claiming it was originally from Korea. 

2.  🇮🇷 Iran: Armita Garawand, the Iranian teen hospitalised recently after an alleged assault by morality police on the Tehran metro, died over the weekend. Last month, lawmakers voted to toughen the penalties for women who violate the country’s strict dress code.

3. 🇲🇾 Malaysia: The sultan of Malaysia’s Johor state will ascend to the throne as the country’s new king in January for a five-year term. The role is largely ceremonial and is appointed on a rotational basis.

4. 🇸🇻 El Salvador: President Nayib Bukele registered last week to run in February’s presidential election, which he’s projected to win by a wide margin. The Supreme Court controversially amended a law last year to allow presidents to seek re-election.

5. 🇶🇦 Qatar: Eight former Indian naval officers have been sentenced to death by a Qatari court for allegedly spying on behalf of Israel. Neither Qatar nor India have revealed the specific charges, but India says it’s "deeply shocked" and will take up the verdict with Qatar.

🚨 Israel and Gaza | Geopolitics

Israel’s rolling invasion of Gaza

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Saturday that Israel had begun the "second phase" of its war against Hamas, "to destroy the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and bring the hostages home."

It moved tanks and infantry into Gaza on Friday night, with air-dropped leaflets to residents, plus what the UN said was the “most intense Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling” so far, cutting communications for 36 hours.

Humanitarian situation. In Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry says the death toll now exceeds 8,000, while the UN says "thousands of desperate people" have broken into its Gaza aid depots as civil order breaks down. Three dozen aid trucks entered Gaza yesterday, the largest convoy to date.

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross says it’s “unacceptable that civilians have no safe place to go in Gaza”, while Israel says it’s planning to “dramatically increase” the aid allowed into Gaza, and claims Hamas has sizeable stockpiles which it refuses to release to civilians.

Hostages. Around half of Hamas’s hostages hold foreign passports. Hamas, which sent a delegation to Moscow last week and called Russia its “closest friend”, has promised to release the eight Russian hostages it’s holding.

For the remainder, Hamas says the price for their freedom is releasing all Hamas and other Palestinian detainees in Israel (believed to number in the thousands). Israel has dismissed this as “psychological terror”, though hostage families, the Haaretz newspaper, and others back such a swap.

International developments. The UN General Assembly (UNGA) passed a non-binding resolution calling for "an immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce" on Friday, with 121 votes in favour. The US and some of the 57 others who opposed or abstained noted the text failed to mention Hamas or its hostages. An amendment that sought to insert both references failed to pass (a result that some delegates applauded).

And the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor appeared at Egypt’s Rafah crossing into Gaza yesterday, calling on Israel to respect international law but stopping short of accusing it of war crimes.

Intrigue's take: Hamas is drawing Israel into two battles where it feels it can blunt any Israeli advantages.

The first is in Gaza, where Hamas seeks to erode Israel’s overwhelming military advantage via the use of tunnels, ambushes, civilians and hostages.

The second is in the international domain, where Friday’s UNGA vote – and global responses to Gaza’s rising death toll reports – suggest that whatever support Israel has is under real and growing pressure.

Israel’s strategy of staged escalation is an attempt to respond on both fronts, but on at least one (international support), its time is already limited.

Also worth noting:

• Israel’s domestic intel chief has reportedly warned that the West Bank could also now erupt “due to a rise in violence by settlers”.

📰 How newspapers covered…

The latest developments from Sudan

*The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are the paramilitary group fighting against Sudan’s military. Nyala is Sudan’s second largest city.

Today’s newsletter is supported by: Millennium Space Systems, A Boeing Company

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Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing Company, is a small satellite prime, delivering high-performance constellation solutions for National Security Space.

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🇨🇱 Chile | Geo-economics

Chile’s copper giant sees 65% profit drop

Chile’s state-owned mining company (Codelco) has reported (🇨🇱) a 65% drop in profit this year.

Chile has the world’s largest known copper reserves, and Codelco alone produces around 6% of the world’s total.

So what’s behind the company’s massive profit drop? Codelco has struggled with misfired projects, plus broader industry challenges around ageing mines, deteriorating ore grades, and stretched supply chains.

Intrigue’s take: This is tough news for Chile, and tough news for the world.

Chile needs revenue to help address domestic challenges such as its recent unrest. But its mining union is warning of strikes if Codelco looks to more job cuts to reduce costs. And markets are flagging the possibility of insolvency if Codelco relies too much on debt to fix its problems instead.

As for the world, it needs Chile to produce more copper and lithium, not less, for the batteries, solar panels and other tech driving the energy transition.

➕ Extra Intrigue

Your weekly roundup of the world’s more funny news

• A man in Spain has ended up in jail after faking a heart attack for the 20th time in a year to avoid restaurant bills. 

• Local authorities have caught folks in Philadelphia stealing $234,500 worth of dimes (they didn’t get far with such a cumbersome bounty).

• A flock of more than a thousand flamingos arrived in Ukraine last week, to the delight of the local Tuzlivski Lymany nature park rangers. 

• And authorities in Spain have told a Duke he’ll have to shorten his daughter’s 25-word-long name if he wants to legally register her. 

🗳️ Poll time!

Thursday’s poll: Do you think Hong Kong will lose its status as a leading financial hub?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⛔ Yes, it's on its way if it hasn't lost that status already (83%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤔 No, less Western doesn't mean less important (16%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!) (1%)

Your two cents:

• ⛔ M.G: “Tight governmental control is the antithesis of what Hong Kong used to symbolize and practice. Singapore? Seoul? You're up!”

• 🤔 R.B: “If the Financial West still finds value and trust in Hong Kong, such that assets continue to flow through, then its status as a leading financial hub will remain as such.”