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Israeli warplanes launched heavy airstrikes targeting an entire residential block near the Al-Sousi Mosque in Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. The strikes destroyed a large number of homes, levelling some to the ground. Civil defense and ambulance teams rushed to the scene and are working to rescue victims and recover bodies from under the rubble amidst widespread destruction and significant difficulties in rescue operations due to the ongoing bombardment and a shortage of equipment.
What We’re Watching: Gaza ceasefire wobbles, Far-right eyes win in Dutch election, Trump to meet with Xi
The Gaza ceasefire wobbles, and Hamas “finds” a hostage body
Israeli strikes in Gaza killed 100 people last night, according to local officials, in the deadliest day since the signing of the ceasefire three weeks ago. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation was a response to the killing of an Israeli soldier in the West Bank and Hamas’ failure to return the remains of the last 13 hostages in Gaza – a key condition of the ceasefire deal. Hamas has said it is trying to locate these remains, but Israel released drone footage on Tuesday that appears to show members of the militant group staging the discovery of a deceased captive. Israel said Wednesday the ceasefire was, however, back in place.
Dutch voters head to the polls, as far-right eyes power (again)
Dutch far-right firebrand Geert Wilders, famous for his severe anti-immigrant views and striking blond coif, leads the polls ahead of today’s election in the Netherlands. But even if he wins, can he garner enough seats to form his own government? He couldn’t after the 2023 election, despite his Freedom Party (FVV) coming in first. Two years of unstable conservative government followed. With 16 different parties expected to gain seats, building a coalition after today’s vote won’t be any easier. Still, the election is seen as a bellwether for the political fortunes of the rising right across Europe.
Tomorrow’s the big day: Trump-Xi meeting
US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping will meet on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Forum to discuss tariffs, details of the TikTok sale, and key issues including China’s access to US-made microchips and US access to Chinese rare earths. And a big question: if deals are struck to lower tariffs and restore bilateral technology access, would things look all that different from where they started when Trump first took office back in January, or would we simply be back to that status quo?Troisi Theater in Fuorigrotta during the presentation of the Five Star Movement's candidate lists for the Campania region, with the presence of Presidential Candidate Roberto Fico and former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
Hard Numbers: Italian pacifists stall EU ammo, Israel and Hamas at odds over hostage remains, Former Malian PM gets jail sentence, & More
13: The Israel-Hamas ceasefire again hangs by a thread as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that the remains of an Israeli hostage returned overnight belonged to another body recovered by Israeli forces two years ago. The remains of 13 hostages remain in Gaza, Hamas says it is struggling to find their bodies amid the rubble.
2: A Malian court sentenced former Prime Minister Moussa Mara to two years in prison after he criticized the military government for harming the country’s democracy, Mara’s lawyer said on Monday. President Assimi Goïta has reportedly cracked down on dissent ever since seizing power in a 2021 coup.
18: An instant classic, last night’s game three of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays ran to an astounding 18 innings, lasting more than six hours before the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off home run to win it. No word yet on how this affects frozen US-Canada trade talks.
14,000: Amazon will cut about 14,000 corporate jobs as it leans further into AI to streamline operations. The company plans more layoffs next year, citing over-hiring during the pandemic and broader plans to reshape Amazon’s workforce.
Trump's Middle East Love Triangle
President Trump has given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu free rein on Gaza longer than many of us expected. But Israel is not America's only Middle East partner. Is Trump now willing to pressure Netanyahu to salvage and expand ties with his Gulf allies? Eurasia Group's Firas Maksad breaks it down.
Netanyahu's visit to the Oval Office last week and the major announcement of a Gaza Peace Plan is what stole all the media headlines. But for me, the biggest story was Trump's commitment to another Middle Eastern ally, and here's why. In September, Israel undertook an unprecedented strike against an Arab Gulf capital in Doha, Qatar trying to get at Hamas officials. It failed, and what he ended up doing is putting President Trump in a bind. Saudi Arabia was quick to react. It signed a mutual defense deal with the Pakistanis, effectively extending Pakistan's nuclear umbrella to the Arab Gulf. Egypt and Turkey also reacted very quickly, papering over past differences and launching joint naval exercises just off the Israeli coast in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Trump's ties to these Arab nations run deep. He chose Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE as the first foreign destination for his visit, not only in the first term, but also more recently in his second term. During these trips, he signed billions of dollars worth of contracts in foreign investments, tech, defense, energy, and other fields. Up until this week, President Trump had actually done very little to rein in Israel. He's allowed it to operate freely, not only in Gaza, but also in Lebanon and Syria really culminating with that attack in Doha, Qatar. But he now understands that he also needs to manage relations with these critical Arab Gulf allies, otherwise, that will undermine the business deals and the security relationship that he has with that part of the world.
So will President Trump be able to maintain that critical balancing act between America's Arab allies and Israel on the one hand, or would it all come apart in the lead-up to the crucial visit of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House in November? We'll have to wait and see.
A drone view of families of hostages and their supporters protesting ahead of the two-year anniversary of the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, demanding the immediate release of all hostages and the end of the war in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 4, 2025.
Hard Numbers: Israelis want war to end, “Czech Trump” wins elections, China-India flights resume, The Free Press goes mainstream
35: Billionaire populist Andrej Babiš, often called “the Czech Trump” won the Czech Republic’s election, taking 35% of the vote. Babiš, who was PM from 2017-2021, is expected to form a government with two smaller ultra-euroskeptic parties, raising concern about whether Prague’s staunch support for Ukraine will continue. See our recent piece on Babiš here.
5: Direct flights between China and India will resume for the first time in five years, as the two billion-strong Asian powers continue to thaw their relationship. Flights were suspended in 2020 after a long-simmering border clash in the Himalayas erupted into open conflict. The move comes as India, long a partner of the US, looks for new allies in the wake of Donald Trump’s massive new tariffs and visa restrictions.
150 million: US media giant Paramount, which owns CBS, has officially purchased the upstart opinion and investigative journalism website The Free Press for $150 million. As part of the deal, Free Press founder Bari Weiss will be installed as editor-in-chief of CBS News.
Spiritual counsel from Czech writer Ivan Klíma, who died at 94 on Saturday. Klíma, who survived a Nazi concentration camp as a child and later insisted on remaining in communist Czechoslovakia to publish clandestinely rather than flee into exile, was one of the 20th century’s greatest critics of totalitarianism. Čest jeho památce 🕊️
Could Israel's Gaza gamble be paying off?
On the latest episode of the GZERO World podcast, the paradox at the heart of Israeli foreign policy today. Militarily, Israel is dominant. Diplomatically, it’s more isolated than ever.
This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made his fourth trip to the White House since President Trump returned to office, standing beside him to unveil what Trump called a “landmark” Gaza peace proposal. But behind the bold language is a growing distance between Israel and the world. Gaza has been devastated, Hamas is on its heels, and yet, the cost to Israel’s global standing continues to rise.
Former US diplomat and Middle East peace negotiator Aaron David Miller joins Ian to unpack the uncomfortable truth: Israel may be winning on the battlefield, but it’s losing support in global capitals, and possibly at home.
“Not a single cost or consequence has been imposed by any Arab state on Israel,” Miller says. “They’ve done nothing. The Arab states are running scared of Trump. They’re either afraid of him or they want something from him.”
From European governments pulling investments and recognizing Palestinian statehood, to rising grassroots pushback across American campuses, Israel’s brand is eroding—even as Netanyahu locks arms more tightly with Trump.
Israeli protestors hold up pictures of Israeli soldiers held by Hamas in Gaza during a demonstration earlier this week following the announcement of a Gaza ceasefire proposal by US President Donald Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hard Numbers: Trump sets Hamas deadline, Venezuela vents at US, Diddy awaits fate, Church of England appoints first female leader
2200: Donald Trump has given Hamas until Sunday at 2200 GMT – which is 6pm in Washington, DC –to accept the Gaza deal that he and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu proposed earlier this week. The framework calls for the release of Hamas-held hostages in exchange for Israeli-held Palestinian prisoners, a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops, an internationally-overseen transitional Gaza government, and amnesty for Hamas fighters who lay down arms. If the group refuses, Trump said, “all hell” will break loose.
5: Venezuela accused the US of “provocation” after detecting five US fighter jets near its Caribbean coast on Thursday. The flyover follows Trump telling Congress that the US is in an “armed conflict” and recent US strikes on alleged Venezuela-linked drug-trafficking boats. Caracas fears Washington’s real aim is to oust President Nicolás Maduro – read what that could look like here.
11: Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs will be sentenced Friday in Manhattan federal court after his recent conviction on charges that he transported women across state lines for prostitution. Acquitted of more serious charges, he faces a wide sentencing range: with the defense seeking no more than 14 months, while prosecutors want 11 years.
1: Dame Sarah Mullally, former chief nursing officer for England, has been appointed the first female archbishop of Canterbury to lead the Church of England. The church did not allow women to become bishops until 2014.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during ‘Christian Conference’ in Jerusalem July 27, 2025.
What We’re Watching: Pressure mounts on Bibi, Ivorian leader announces another run, China’s top property firm to delist
Netanyahu faces the squeeze
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming under criticism from both sides of the political spectrum amid the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza. Far-right US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) declared on Monday that Israel was committing genocide in the enclave, while center-left UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday he’d recognize Palestinian statehood unless Israel met certain conditions by September. Given the importance of Israel’s relationship with the US, Netanyahu will be far more concerned about whether MAGA figures are distancing from Israel, as well as a Gallup poll that showed just 32% of Americans approve of Israel’s military action in Gaza (down from 50% at the start of the war).
Ivorian leader announces he’s running for fourth term
After winning a third term in 2020, Côte d'Ivoire’s President Alassane Ouattara hinted that he wouldn’t run again. Five years on, the 83-year-old has changed his mind, announcing another run and starting the race in pole position – the election is on October 25. Located on Africa’s West Coast, Côte d'Ivoire is home to over 30 million people and is the world’s top producer of cocoa. Its economy has been booming lately, but there has also been political unrest: Ouattara’s decision to run for a third term angered many, and he had to deny widespread – and false – rumors of a coup earlier this year.Embattled Chinese property developer to be delisted
The troubles continue for Evergrande, once one of China’s largest property developers. After being ordered into liquidation earlier this year, the firm will be delisted from Hong Kong’s stock exchange after failing to produce a viable plan to restructure $23 billion in offshore debt. Evergrande’s stunning collapse has become a symbol of China’s broader economic slowdown as consumer demand weakens, the workforce shrinks, and debt climbs.
Smoke rises during Israeli strikes amid the Israeli military operation in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, July 21, 2025.
What We’re Watching: Israeli forces advance into new Gaza area, DRC to ink peace deal with rebels, Chilean crime wave pushes voters rightward
Israel advances for first time into central Gazan refuge city
Israeli ground forces have pushed into Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, an area that the IDF has previously largely avoided because it is believed to be where the remaining Israeli hostages are held. The incursion has raised concern for the safety of the many Gazans who have taken refuge there over the course of the conflict. Israel says it aims to dismantle the remains of Hamas’ infrastructure, but families of the hostages have demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appear before them and the public to clarify the risks to their loved ones.
Democratic Republic of Congo to sign peace pact with rebels
The Democratic Republic of Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group have agreed to sign a peace deal by Aug 18, following months of Qatari mediation. The US, which has facilitated separate talks between the Congo and Rwanda, is pushing for peace in the long-running conflict, partly in order to facilitate greater Western investment in the Congo's critical mineral resources. For more background, see our recent piece here.
Crime pushes Chile to the right ahead of election
Deep political polarization is afflicting every region of the world these days, but the trend is especially pronounced in Chile ahead of its November presidential election. Current leftwinger Gabriel Boric must bow out due to term limits, and while polls put Communist candidate Jeanette Jara in first place for now, just behind her is ultraconservative Catholic José Antonio Kast, an open admirer of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Given the popularity of several other rightwing candidates, Kast would be the favorite to win a runoff. A key campaign issue: a recent crime wave driven in part by criminal gangs composed of migrants from Venezuela.