Israel-Hamas War
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a deadly Israeli raid in the West Bank, the EU’s decision to begin Ukraine accession negotiations, and Guyana-Venezuela talks over the Esequibo region.
Israel’s Other Front
The Israeli military concluded a three-day raid in the West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday, arresting more than 100 Palestinians. According to Israeli officials, military operations targeted armed Palestinian resistance efforts in Jenin’s refugee camp and surrounding area, long accused of being a stronghold for Hamas sympathizers.
Israel said its troops discovered weapons, ammunition, and explosives while searching more than 400 buildings and that it carried out a drone strike that killed numerous people who had fired on Israeli soldiers. However, locals accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of aiming to displace residents and worsen living conditions.
Images circulating on social media and verified by Reuters also showed Israeli soldiers entering a mosque and reading out a Jewish prayer from a microphone in the style of the Islamic call to prayer. The soldiers’ actions sparked anger for what the Palestinian foreign ministry said was a mockery of the religious sanctum; the Israeli army said the soldiers were immediately removed from operational activity and would be disciplined accordingly, stating, “The behavior of the soldiers in the videos is serious and stands in complete opposition to the values of the IDF.”
At least 12 Palestinians were killed and 34 others wounded in the three-day assault, the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah said Thursday, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7 to at least 286 people, including those killed in Israeli military raids and in acts of violence by extremist Israeli settlers.
Jenin and the larger West Bank have become flash points for Israeli operations in recent months as the IDF continues its ground invasion and bombardment of Gaza. International rights groups and regional powers have decried violent Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians, and even the United States—Israel’s staunchest ally and a consistent opponent of United Nations-backed calls for a cease-fire—is currently blocking a shipment of firearms intended for Israel’s National Police out of fear that more than 27,000 U.S.-made rifles could fall into the hands of extremist Israelis living in the West Bank.
On Thursday, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with top Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, to discuss the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. Conversations around continued West Bank raids, though, were sidelined for debate centered on Hamas’s underground tunnel system and what U.S. President Joe Biden recently described as Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” of civilians in his harshest critique yet of the Netanyahu administration. The White House has since tried to downplay Biden’s remarks, particularly those accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not seriously working toward establishing an independent Palestinian state.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued to bombard cities across Gaza, with attacks on Thursday striking civilians in the southern Gaza city of Rafah near the Egyptian border. Fearing inadequate safe zones and facing worsening food shortages, many Palestinians are urging Egypt to open its borders to grant refugees a safe haven from Israeli strikes, but Cairo has repeatedly pushed back against any such concession. The Rafah border crossing itself continues to allow small shipments of food and medical supplies into Gaza, but rights groups on the ground maintain that the goods are far from enough to address the humanitarian catastrophe there.
Today’s Most Read
- Germany Is Thinking of Simply Banning the Far Right by Paul Hockenos
- Why China Is Stepping Up Its Maritime Attacks on the Philippines by Elisabeth Braw
- What’s Wrong With Biden’s Venezuela Policy by Ryan C. Berg
What We’re Following
A step toward accession. European Union leaders gathered in Brussels on Thursday agreed to open talks on Ukraine’s EU membership bid. Opening accession talks has long been one of Kyiv’s top priorities, especially as it prepares for another harsh winter of fighting against Russia. Although Ukraine’s accession to the EU is realistically still many years away, the decision to begin talks represents a major step forward and a big win for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “This is a victory for Ukraine. A victory for all of Europe. A victory that motivates, inspires, and strengthens,” Zelensky wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in response to the decision. The EU also agreed to open accession talks for Moldova to join the bloc.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, had previously threatened to veto any move to open Ukraine’s accession talks, but he yielded on Thursday, saying in a video on his Facebook page that he had opted to “stay away” from the vote so as not to stand in the way of the bloc’s other 26 member states. However, Orban has signaled that he may oppose a $52 billion EU aid package for Ukraine that is still being debated, arguing that the aid should come only after Europe-wide elections next summer.
Face to face. Guyanese President Irfaan Ali met with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in St. Vincent on Thursday to discuss the two nations’ ongoing territorial dispute over the contested Esequibo region. The leaders of Barbados, Dominica, and Trinidad and Tobago also attended to help mediate the talks. However, neither side appears eager to appease the other’s demands. “We are firm on this matter and it will not be open for discussion,” Ali wrote on X.
Last week, Maduro ordered unprecedented steps to secure control over the oil-rich territory, which international law recognizes as part of Guyana. Both nations have long claimed sovereignty over the territory, but recent oil and natural resource discoveries as well as a looming election have made Venezuela particularly interested in taking Esequibo for itself. “While it is easier to stake a claim than to pitch a tent, Maduro has whipped the country into a nationalist frenzy,” Ryan C. Berg wrote in Foreign Policy. The likelihood of Maduro backing down, therefore, remains slim.
Tokyo’s cabinet reshuffle. In an effort to combat Japan’s biggest financial scandal in the ruling party’s history, four Japanese cabinet ministers resigned Thursday, including two senior members. Six senior government officials also quit. This is Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s third cabinet reshuffle in 16 months as his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) struggles to bolster record-low public approval ratings ahead of leadership elections next September.
LDP members have been accused of failing to report hundreds of millions of yen from fundraising efforts and instead placing the money in slush funds. Allegations also suggest that Kishida and other party members underreported fundraising income. Kishida has promised to tackle the scandal “head-on.”
Odds and Ends
Next time you complain about a fine, take a moment to remember Vitaly Vanshelboim. The United Nations ordered the former top logistics official to personally repay $63.6 million as well as forgo one year’s salary after an internal investigation found that he had been “willful, reckless or grossly negligent” in his financial practices.
The senior U.N. deputy and his boss allegedly amassed millions of dollars for the organization to boost their reputations by charging other companies extra for construction projects. Then they poorly invested around $60 million in companies all linked to one British businessman they met at a party. The U.N. only secured 10 percent of what Vanshelboim and his boss initially invested—and now it’s asking for the money back. Vanshelboim, who was fired but has not been charged with a crime, is asking the U.N. court system, which regularly handles internal personnel matters, to overturn the firing as well as the fine and order to repay the funds. The court is due to hold a virtual hearing on the case early next year.