US calls for Palestinian Authority to run postwar Gaza

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US secretary of state Antony Blinken has provided Washington’s most detailed plan for postwar Gaza, saying the enclave should be politically unified with the West Bank under the administration of the Palestinian Authority.

The US’s top diplomat reiterated the Biden administration’s position that Israel should not reoccupy Gaza after its war with Hamas, but he left open the possibility that the Jewish state could play a role in a “transition period”.

“It must include a sustained mechanism for reconstruction in Gaza and a pathway to Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in states of their own, with equal measures of security, freedom, opportunity and dignity,” Blinken said after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Japan yesterday.

His remarks come after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week said Israel would have “overall security responsibility” in Gaza for an indefinite period. Israel has vowed to eradicate Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007 after it fought rival Palestinian faction Fatah in the strip.

The PA, which is dominated by Fatah, administers parts of the West Bank, but it is weak and lacks credibility among many Palestinians. Arab officials have cautioned it is unrealistic to expect the PA to easily move into Gaza and replace Hamas if Israel succeeds in defeating the Islamist group, which is deeply embedded in Palestinian society. Read the full story.

• Gaza exodus: Thousands of Palestinians fled northern Gaza on foot as Israeli troops battling Hamas militants moved into Gaza City, while G7 foreign ministers called for “unimpeded humanitarian support” for civilians trapped in the enclave.

• EU rebukes Turkey: The EU said it was in “complete disagreement” with Turkey’s stance on Hamas after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referred to the Palestinian militant group as a “liberation” movement.

• Intelligence failure: Israel’s overconfident spy agencies missed multiple warnings before Hamas’s deadly October 7 attacks in what a former MI6 chief called a “failure of imagination”.

• Alleged terror plot in Brazil: Israel claimed its Mossad spy agency helped foil an attack on Jewish targets allegedly planned by Hizbollah in the South American country.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: The European Central Bank publishes its economic bulletin, while the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has its house price balance for the UK.

• Results: SoftBank reports. The Japanese group was forced to wire $1.5bn to Goldman Sachs and other lenders days before WeWork filed for bankruptcy, the Financial Times reported yesterday. Other companies reporting include AstraZeneca, National Grid, News Corp, Pirelli, Veolia and WHSmith.

• Kristallnacht: Germany marks the 85th anniversary of the Night of Broken Glass, the pogrom against the country’s Jews by the Nazis. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will give a speech in Berlin.

Join us next Wednesday for the FT’s Future of AI summit in London and online, where early adopters will discuss the applications, regulation and possibilities of artificial intelligence. Register here.

Five more top stories

1. HMRC has warned that costs will increase this year because of the 1.2mn extra taxpayers it has to handle. The UK tax authority told MPs yesterday it was preparing to deal with growing demand from savers who face a tax charge for the first time this year as higher interest on savings pushes their earnings beyond the tax-free threshold.

2. Big hedge funds are paying “silly” amounts of money to hire portfolio managers, said Sir Paul Marshall, who co-founded Europe’s largest hedge fund. The rise of multi-manager platforms has led to a “merry-go-round” of managers being offered “incredible amounts of money”, he told an investment conference in Hong Kong. Here’s more from his remarks.

• Regulation: Brokers, hedge funds and investment advisers are pushing back against attempts by the US Securities and Exchange Commission to manage how artificial intelligence is used to give financial advice to investors.

3. Exclusive: US betting group DraftKings discussed an all-stock offer for struggling UK betting operator 888 with top shareholders in June and July, according to people briefed on the talks. The early-stage discussions are a sign of American operators’ increasing dominance in the sector, which could drive more consolidation. Oliver Barnes has more details on the meetings.

4. The UK’s Supreme Court has permitted Danish authorities to pursue a £1.4bn tax fraud case against financial institutions including Sanjay Shah’s hedge fund, after the court rejected his attempt to block the case from being heard in England. Lawyers said the decision would have broader implications for international disputes over “cum-ex” trades.

5. The US actors’ union has reached a tentative deal to end the longest strike in Hollywood history. The agreement between SAG-AFTRA and a coalition representing studios and streaming services was announced yesterday after days of intense negotiations. It still has to be ratified by union members. Here’s what the deal covers.

The Big Read

Steering his country through a period of extreme isolation to counter Covid-19 while defying tough international sanctions, Kim Jong Un has emerged into the warm embrace of Moscow and Beijing amid intensifying geopolitical tensions in the region. The millennial dictator has strengthened ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin and continued to develop nuclear weapons, illustrating how global chaos has benefited North Korea.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Online safety: The UK’s new rules must work in concert with similar laws by the EU to make sure there are no conflicts for companies, writes Ofcom chief Melanie Dawes.

• Middle East: The European postwar settlement after 1945 teaches us that there will be no peace in the region without politics, writes Columbia University historian Adam Tooze.

• UK steel: Cutting carbon emissions is the right move, but the country also needs a strategy to recycle Britain’s vast amounts of scrap metal, writes Helen Thomas.

• Cricket: Afghanistan has emerged as the underdog success story of the World Cup, with historic victories that have brought cheer to the crisis-hit, Taliban-controlled nation.

Chart of the day

Russia’s army and its weapons factories are sucking in a growing number of workers as Moscow braces for a long war in Ukraine, leaving civilian sectors with painful labour shortages and destabilising the broader economy.

Take a break from the news

John Akomfrah was eight years old when the 1966 coup in Ghana claimed his father’s life. The lost innocence remains on the Royal Academician’s mind, writes Maya Jaggi. The artist and filmmaker explores the complexities of his African roots through a personal aesthetic he terms bricolage.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and David Hindley