WORLD BRIEFING: November 15, 2023
Israel-Hamas War
Israeli troops entered Gaza's biggest hospital on Wednesday and were searching its rooms and basement, witnesses said, culminating a days-long siege that caused global alarm over the fate of thousands of civilians trapped inside. Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City has become the main target of the ground operation by Israeli forces, who say Hamas fighters have the "beating heart" of their operations in a headquarters in tunnels beneath it, which Hamas denies. Israel said its troops killed fighters in a clash outside the gates before entering, and had brought medical supplies for those inside - Reuters
Palestinians trapped inside Gaza's biggest hospital were digging a mass grave on Tuesday to bury patients who died under Israeli encirclement, and said no plan was in place to evacuate babies despite Israel announcing an offer to send portable incubators. Hamas, Gaza's ruling Islamist group, denies fighters are present and says 650 patients and 5,000-7,000 other civilians are trapped inside the hospital grounds, under constant fire from snipers and drones. It says 40 patients have died in recent days, including three premature babies whose incubators were knocked out - Reuters
An internal State Department memo signed by 100 State Department and USAID employees, accuses President Biden of "spreading misinformation" on the Israel-Hamas war and alleges that Israel is committing "war crimes" in Gaza. The scathing five-page memo offers a rare look at the raw divisions within the Biden administration over the Israel-Hamas war. It urges senior U.S. officials to reassess their policy toward Israel and demand a ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled health ministry - Axios
Ukraine War
Moscow has reportedly used a new type of cyberattack to destabilise Ukraine’s electricity grid. After physically attacking power substations and other parts of the grid, more recently a tactical team has employed a new class of cyber-physical attack. The attackers honed in on MicroSCADA, a common software used in critical infrastructure systems, and the one used to monitor and control Ukraine’s grid. Sandworm stealthily manipulated controls for multiple substations and disrupted power. Evidence from a joint investigation by Mandiant and Ukraine’s cyber authorities indicates that Sandworm readied the attack in as little as two months after gaining unauthorised access to the network. Instead of using tailored malware, malicious commands were injected directly into legitimate MicroSCADA software controlling the grid’s operations. Sandworm then covered its tracks, masking the specific commands executed to trip the breakers and cause an unscheduled power outage.
Elsewhere
The sacked UK Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, has launched a full-scale attack on her old boss UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a day after he showed her the exit door. Here’s her scathing letter in full.
When President Biden meets President Xi Jinping of China at a lush estate on the edge of Silicon Valley today, his primary goal will be simple: find a way to avoid an increasingly bitter competition with China from tipping into conflict. A senior administration official said they are expected to reach the outline of an agreement that would commit Beijing to regulating components of fentanyl, the drug that has driven a devastating opioid epidemic in the United States. But China has made similar commitments before. They are likely to announce a new forum for a discussion of how to keep artificial intelligence programs away from nuclear command and control — at the same moment the United States is denying China the advanced chips it needs to develop and train A.I. programs. And they will probably discuss resuming military-to-military communications - NYT
Czech TV journalist Bohumil Vostal was capturing what he thought would be a majestic shot — San Francisco’s iconic City Lights bookstore, steeped in the gathering dusk — when three masked assailants approached with guns pointed. “They were heading at my camera man, aiming a gun at his stomach, and one at my head,” Vostal said in an interview Monday, growing breathless as he recounted the harrowing incident at 5 p.m. the night before. Vostal is among hundreds of international correspondents who flocked to San Francisco this week for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, an event drawing some of the world’s most powerful leaders to downtown and Nob Hill. Like many reporters, Vostal had seen news coverage of unruly shoplifters, open-air drug markets and commercial vacancies, but he hoped to portray the city in a more positive light - SF Chronicle
Netanyahu’s tough approach to Gaza may wipe out Hamas, but at what cost?
“Several decades ago, when I was with my UNICEF team in Rafah in the southern end of the Gaza Strip, we met Aisha, a teenage student at one of the local schools. Intelligent, articulate and confident, she was typical of thousands of other youths in the West Bank and Gaza who participated in an immensely popular school project to work side-by-side with municipal officials to improve their communities.
Sitting in front of a wall painting of Mickey Mouse, there was something clearly out of place. Even though schools were meant to be no-go zones and places of sanctuary, the mural had been almost completely obliterated by what we were told was Israeli shrapnel .
As she urged us to look around her violent surroundings, we asked Aisha what she’d like to do after graduating. Her answer came as little surprise: “I’d like to get even,” she said.
Fast forward about two decades later, and after more than a month of relentless Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, you can bet on the emergence of a tsunami of angry kids like Aisha. Those who’ve lost parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and other loved ones as Israel goes about trying to flush out Hamas fighters.
Read my full Globe and Mail oped here