Attention to the Unseen

Politico reports: “The deal does stop the war,” said a senior administration official, who briefed reporters on the situation on condition of anonymity. The official added: “What’s on the table now is very close to the deal Hamas said they would take” in earlier negotiations. Hamas rejected previous cease-fire deals, as they didn’t offer a pathway to end the war for good. The first phase of the three-phase deal would last six weeks and include a “complete” cease-fire, a withdrawal…

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The Guardian reports: An investigative reporter with Israel’s leading leftwing newspaper, Haaretz, has said unnamed senior security officials threatened actions against him if he reported on attempts by the former head of the Mossad to intimidate the ex-prosecutor of the international criminal court. Amid growing concern over Israel’s censorship regime, enforced by the military censor’s office and by gag orders issued by the courts, Haaretz published an article on Wednesday with blacked out words and sentences to demonstrate the scale…

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Politico reports: The Biden administration has quietly given Ukraine permission to strike inside Russia — solely near the area of Kharkiv — using U.S.-provided weapons, three U.S. officials and two other people familiar with the move said Thursday, a major reversal that will help Ukraine to better defend its second-largest city. “The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use U.S. weapons for counter-fire purposes in Kharkiv so Ukraine can hit back at Russian forces…

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The Guardian reports: Security services around Europe are on alert to a potential new weapon of Russia’s war – arson and sabotage – after a spate of mystery fires and attacks on infrastructure in the Baltics, Germany and the UK. When a fire broke out in Ikea in Vilnius in Lithuania this month, few passed any remarks until the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, suggested it could have been the work of a foreign saboteur. Investigators have already alleged potential…

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The Times of Israel reports: A senior Israeli official predicted on Wednesday that the war in Gaza would continue at least through the rest of the year, as international pressure on Israel to end fighting only grows. National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in an interview with Kan public radio that “this year, we expect another seven months of combat, in order to deepen our achievement and achieve what we define as the destruction of the military and governing capabilities…

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Reuters reports: The artillery fire begins just before dawn. A soldier steps into a darkened trench and lights a cigarette, carefully cupping the flame with his free hand. A boom and crackle of outgoing fire sound in the distance. Viktor, the infantryman, ducks his head under a canopy of camouflage netting and looks up at the brightening sky. The incessant buzz of a drone sounds overhead, moving a dozen meters from one end of the trench to linger just above…

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Isaac Chotiner interviewed Dara Massicot: This month, the Russian Army has been advancing toward Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, a move that highlights the degree to which the two-year conflict has turned in Vladimir Putin’s favor. At the very least, the push toward Kharkiv may force Ukraine to redirect its thinly stretched forces from the Donbas region, where Russia has been waging a prolonged offensive. The U.S. Congress recently passed an aid bill—blocked since last year by hard-right Republicans in the…

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