The recent study revealing that babies in Nigeria are being born with antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a alarming wake-up call that demands immediate and decisive action from the Nigerian government. This crisis not only threatens the lives of Nigeria’s most vulnerable citizens but also poses a significant risk to public health and the future of medical treatment in the country.

To address this critical issue, the government must take the following steps:

1. Ban agricultural use of critical antibiotics: The government must immediately prohibit the use of colistin and other critically important antibiotics in livestock farming. This ban should be strictly enforced with severe penalties for violations.

2. Regulate antibiotic imports: Implement stringent controls on the importation of livestock feed containing antibiotics, particularly those banned in other countries. This will help prevent Nigeria from becoming a dumping ground for harmful agricultural practices.

3. Improve agricultural practices: Invest in programmes to educate farmers on alternative methods of disease prevention in livestock, such as improved hygiene, vaccination, and better animal husbandry practices. Provide financial incentives for farmers to transition to antibiotic-free farming.

4. Enhance healthcare infrastructure: Significantly increase funding for hospital infection control programmes, water sanitation, and hygiene facilities. This will help reduce the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in healthcare settings and communities.

5. Strengthen antibiotic stewardship: Implement and enforce strict guidelines for the prescription and use of antibiotics in both human medicine and veterinary practice. This should include educating healthcare providers and the public about the dangers of antibiotic misuse.

6. Invest in research and surveillance: Allocate resources to conduct ongoing research into antibiotic resistance patterns in Nigeria and establish a robust national surveillance system to monitor and respond to emerging threats.

7. Collaborate internationally: Actively engage with global initiatives to combat antimicrobial resistance, including participating in the upcoming UN High-Level meeting on antimicrobial resistance in September 2024.

8. Public awareness campaigns: Launch nationwide educational programmes to inform citizens about the dangers of antibiotic resistance and the importance of proper antibiotic use.

The government must recognize that this is not just a health issue, but a national security concern that threatens the country's future. The economic cost of inaction will far outweigh the investment required to address this crisis.

As we approach the UN High-Level meeting on antimicrobial resistance, Nigeria has the opportunity to demonstrate leadership on this critical global issue. By taking swift and comprehensive action now, the country can protect its newborns, preserve the efficacy of life-saving antibiotics, and set an example for other nations facing similar challenges.

The time for half-measures and delayed responses has passed. The government must act decisively to safeguard the health of its citizens and their future.

Gaza ceasefire: Hamas says again it wants implementation, not more talks

Hamas fired two rockets at Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv on Tuesday for the first time in months and Israeli airstrikes killed at least 19 Palestinians in Gaza, as mediators aimed to resume ceasefire talks later in the week.

There were no reports of casualties in Israel. Two rockets had been fired from Gaza, the Israeli military said, one of which fell in the sea and the other had not reached Israeli territory.

Hamas' military wing said in a statement: "We have bombed the city of Tel Aviv and its suburbs with two 'M90' missiles in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians and the deliberate displacement of our people."

Israeli airstrikes killed 19 Palestinians in the central and southern Gaza Stripon Tuesday, medics said. Hamas last claimed firing rockets at Tel Aviv in May.

One strike killed six people in Deir Al-Balah, including a mother and her twin four-day-old babies, while seven other Palestinians were killed in a strike on a house in the nearby Al-Bureij camp.

Four people were killed in two separate strikes on the Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip and Rafah in the south, and two were killed in a strike on a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City in the north, medics said.

The Israeli military and Islamic Jihad and Hamas said they were fighting in several areas of Gaza.

The Israeli military said it had killed Palestinian gunmen and dismantled military structures in Khan Younis, located weapons and explosives in Rafah, and struck rocket launchers and sniper posts in central Gaza.

CEASEFIRE TALKS

The U.S. said on Monday that it expected Gaza ceasefire talks slated for Thursday to go ahead as planned, and that an agreement was still possible. Axios reported that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken planned to set off on Tuesday for discussions in Qatar, Egypt and Israel.

The Israeli government said it would send a delegation to Thursday's talks to finalise the details of the agreement proposal.

But Hamas is demanding a workable plan to implement the proposal, presented by U.S. President Joe Biden in May - rather than more talks.

A Hamas official told Reuters that a CNN report saying the group planned to attend on Thursday was wrong.

"Our statement the other day was clear: what is needed is the implementation, not more negotiation," said the official, who declined to be named owing to the sensitivity of the issue.

The war was triggered when Hamas-led fighters stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Almost 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, with much of the enclave laid to waste and most the population displaced.

A ceasefire deal would aim to end fighting in Gaza and ensure the release of Israeli hostages held in the enclave in return for Palestinians jailed in Israel.

In Deir Al-Balah, one of the most overcrowded places in Gaza with hundreds of thousands of displaced, many were desperate for a truce.

"Enough, we are no longer able to tolerate the war, the starvation and the frequent displacement," said Ghada, a mother of six who two days ago had to leave her tent in Khan Younis under new Israeli evacuation orders.

"I hope this time they will reach a ceasefire. If they don't, I don't know how much longer we can survive," she told Reuters via a chat app.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Putin says Kiev regime attacks civilians, sees no point in talks

Ukraine’s armed provocation on the Russian border aims to bolster Kiev’s position in future talks, but talks with a government that attacks civilians make no sense, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

He made the statement when opening a meeting about the situation on the Russian border.

"It is now clear why the Kiev regime refused our proposals to return to the plan for peaceful settlement," Putin said. "The enemy, with the help of its Western masters - it is doing their bidding, and the West is waging war against us using Ukrainians - <...> seeks to improve its negotiating position in the future."

"But what kind of negotiations can we even talk about with people who indiscriminately strike civilians, civilian infrastructure or try to create threats to nuclear power facilities," the president went on to say. "What can we even talk about with them?"

The adviser to the chief of staff of the Ukrainian presidential office, Mikhail Podolyak, said Ukraine could improve its negotiating position with the help of an operation on Russian territory. The European edition of Politico said the attack in Russia’s Kursk Region took place with the approval of the West.

Ukrainian forces started a major attack on the Kursk Region on August 6. Missile attack alerts have been issued repeatedly in the region since then. According to the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry, more than 8,000 people have been evacuated from border areas over the past day due to Ukrainian attacks, and more than 6,000 people have been placed in temporary accommodation centers.

Hospitals have admitted 69 people that were injured in Ukrainian shelling of the Kursk Region, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said. Of them, 17 are in serious condition. According to the latest data from the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukraine has lost up to 1,350 troops, 29 tanks and 23 armored personnel carriers since the start of hostilities in the Kursk Region.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia strikes back at Ukrainian forces in Kursk region

Summary

Ukraine strikes Russia with drones

Intense battles underway in Russia's Kursk region

Nearly 200,000 Russians evacuated

One of the biggest incursions into Russia in decades

Russian forces on Tuesday struck back at Ukrainian troops with missiles, drones and airstrikes in actions that one senior commander said had halted Ukraine's advance after the biggest attack on sovereign Russian territory since the war began.

Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers smashed through the Russian border a week ago in a surprise attack that Russian President Vladimir Putin said was aimed at improving Kyiv's negotiating position ahead of possible talks and slowing the advance of Russian forces along the front.

The Ukrainian forces carved out a slice of Russian territory, prompting Moscow to evacuate almost 200,000 people while it rushed in reserves.

Russian war bloggers reported intense battles across the Kursk front as the Ukrainians tried to expand their control, though they said Russia was bringing in soldiers and heavy weaponry and had repelled many Ukrainian attacks.

Russia's defence ministry published images of Sukhoi Su-34 bombers striking at what it said were Ukrainian troops in the Kursk border region and said it had repelled attacks at villages about 26-28 km (16-17 miles) from the border.

Russian forces had destroyed a total of 35 Ukrainian tanks, 31 armoured personnel carriers, 18 infantry fighting vehicles, and 179 other armoured vehicles during in the week-long battle, it said.

"The uncontrolled ride of the enemy has already been halted," said Major General Apti Alaudinov, the commander of the Chechen Akhmat special forces unit. "The enemy is already aware that the blitzkrieg that it planned did not work out."

It was not clear which side was in control of the Russian town of Sudzha, through which Russia delivers gas from Western Siberia through Ukraineand on to Slovakia and other European Union countries. Gazprom said Tuesday it was still pumping gas to Ukraine through Sudzha.

Kursk's acting governor, Alexei Smirnov, said on Monday that Ukraine controlled 28 settlements in the region, and the incursion was about 12 km deep and 40 km wide. Ukraine claimed it controlled 1,000 square km (386 square miles) of Russian, more than double what the Russian figures indicate.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Western leaders said they would help Ukraine defeat Russian troops on the battlefield and drive them out.

Ukraine recaptured large swathes of territory in 2022. But its counteroffensive in 2023 failed to pierce heavily dug-in Russian lines, and Russian forces have been advancing this year deeper into Ukrainian territory. Russia controls just under one fifth of territory internationally recognised as Ukraine.

PUTIN PLEDGE

At his Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Putin told officials that Russia would force out the Ukrainian troops, saying Russian forces were speeding up their advance along other parts of the front.

Still, the foreign occupation of Russian land was an embarrassment for the army and for Putin. The Ukrainian incursion is the most serious into Russia since the June 1941 invasion by Nazi Germany, which turned on the 1943 Battle of Kursk.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Ukrainians in his nightly address that the operation in Russia was a matter of Ukrainian security and the Kursk region had been used by Russia to launch many strikes against Ukraine.

But by dedicating forces to Kursk, Ukraine may leave other parts of the front exposed just as Russia has been advancing. Russia which has a far larger army, could try to encircle Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine's Western backers, which have been keen to avoid an escalation of the war into a direct confrontation between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO, said they had no prior warning of the Ukrainian offensive.

Putin said the West was using Ukraine to fight a proxy war with Russia and the border incursion was an attempt to undermine Russian domestic stability.

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said Zelenskiy was taking crazy steps that risked an escalation far beyond Ukraine's borders.

In Kursk, 121,000 people had already left or have been evacuated and another 59,000 were in the process of being evacuated, local officials said. In Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Kursk, 11,000 civilians were also evacuated, the region's governor said.

Tass/Reuters

In the pursuit of doubling profits, many businesses feel the pressure to resort to aggressive sales tactics. However, sustainable growth doesn’t always require higher sales numbers. By focusing on three key profit drivers (pricing profitably, managing expenses, and setting strategic sales targets) you can achieve your desired profit margins without having to increase sales.

1. Pricing Profitably

Pricing is more than just assigning a dollar amount to your products or services; it’s about understanding the value you deliver and ensuring that your pricing reflects that value.

One of the first steps in pricing profitably is understanding the true value of what you offer. Conduct market research to compare your offerings with competitors. Consider factors such as quality, uniqueness, and the problem-solving potential of your product or service.

The market is dynamic, and your prices should reflect changes in demand, costs, and competition. You must regularly review and adjust your pricing to remain competitive and profitable in this market.

If you do need to increase prices, you can choose to implement small, incremental price increases where necessary, so customers can adjust without feeling sticker shock.

2. Expense Management

Cutting costs doesn’t mean compromising on quality. Smart expense management involves making strategic decisions to reduce waste and optimize operations without negatively impacting your product or service.

Start by auditing your business expenses. Are there areas where you can cut costs but maintain quality? This might involve renegotiating contracts with suppliers, finding more cost-effective marketing strategies, or eliminating unnecessary expenditures.
Invest in technology that can automate processes, reduce manual labor, and increase efficiency. For example, customer relationship management (CRM) software can streamline sales processes, while project management tools can enhance team collaboration, reducing the need for constant check-ins and meetings.
3. Strategic Sales Targets

Understanding your sales targets each month is crucial for ensuring that you meet your required net profit margins. By setting clear and realistic goals, you can monitor your progress effectively and make necessary adjustments to stay on track. This practice not only helps in maintaining financial health but also allows you to identify any potential issues early on, enabling proactive measures. Regularly reviewing your performance against these targets provides valuable insights into your business's overall success and guides you in making informed decisions to drive growth and profitability.

You can also increase sales when you understand your customers' pain points and preferences really well. Develop detailed buyer personas and tailor your marketing and sales strategies to address their specific needs. When customers feel understood and valued, they’re more likely to buy from you.

Bringing It All Together

Doubling your profit doesn’t require underhanded tactics or hard selling. By focusing on profitable pricing, smart expense management, and strategic sales targets, you can achieve sustainable growth while maintaining your business's integrity.

The key is to view profit not as the result of tricking customers into buying more but as the outcome of delivering genuine value and running your business efficiently. This approach not only enhances your profit margins but also builds a loyal customer base that trusts and respects your brand.

Forbes

Data from HMRC, released through a Freedom of Information request, showed the biggest growth in employments over the period was among Indian nationals (+487,900).

This compared to an increase of 278,700 employments among Nigerian nationals and an increase of 257,000 employments among UK nationals between December 2019 to December last year.

In total, there were 1.481million more employments over the period, with 1.465million more accounted for by people from outside the EU.

Between December 2019 and December 2023, there were 241,600 fewer employments for EU nationals in the UK.

Tory MP Neil O'Brien, a former government minister who requested the HMRC data, said the figures showed the 'extraordinary changes' since the introduction of Britain's new post-Brexit migration system in January 2021.

The Harborough, Oadby and Wigston MP wrote in a blog post: 'Obviously, there is no lump of labour, and whatever the other pros and cons of migration, there is no fixed number of jobs that migrants are competing for.

'But it is pretty striking that the UK economy has created more additional employments for nationals of both India and Nigeria as single countries than for UK nationals over this period.'

O'Brien acknowledged using data on employments by nationality was 'far from perfect' because it only covers employment and not those who aren't working or are self-employed.

It also measures the number of employments and not the number of employees, as people can have more than one employment, and doesn't include the 'grey economy' or people not visible to HMRC.

But he added the data revealed how the UK's new migration scheme had been 'more restrictive towards EU migration, but much less restrictive towards migration from the rest of the world'.

O'Brien called for a 'rebooting' of the immigration system as he also pointed to data showing the average earnings of Indian and Nigerian nationals relative to UK nationals has sharply declined since the new  points-based scheme was introduced in 2021.

'Given the fixed costs in terms of capital, housing and infrastructure pressures, we need to select for migrants who are significantly higher-earning than existing residents in order to improve the net impact on the existing population,' O'Brien wrote.

'Rebooting the system to shift the balance towards higher skilled/higher earning migrants and groups with higher employment rates... could provide a boost to the public finances and the economy more generally.'

Ben Brindle, an economist at Oxford University's Migration Observatory think tank, said some evidence suggested non-EU migrants were doing jobs ­previously held by EU workers before Brexit and the Covid pandemic.

'The figures show that the number of jobs being carried out by non-EU workers in the UK has increased significantly since the pandemic,' he said.

'At the same time when you look at sectors like hospitality and manufacturing, the ­data suggest there is some evidence that roles previously being carried out by EU workers are now being carried out by workers from outside the EU.

'It is likely that we now have non-EU nationals taking lower paid roles that were previously filled by EU nationals.'

Daily Mail

Nigerian refineries including the Dangote Refinery have raised their domestic crude requirements for the second half of 2024 to 597,700 barrels per day from 483,000 bpd in the first half, the national oil regulator said, despite tight domestic supply.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) was only able to help secure 177,777 bpd from oil producers in the first six months of the year, way below what the refiners had asked for, it said in a statement released on Friday.

The refineries' rising crude requirements and oil producers' struggle to meet demand has put the 650,000-bpd Dangote Refinery in particular at odds with the regulator.

Dangote Refinery has accused the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) of failing to enforce a law that requires oil producers to supply domestic refiners, saying in a statement on Friday that lax enforcement was raising its operational costs.

The refinery, which is the largest in Africa, says it is having to increase crude imports due to the insufficient domestic supplies and this could impact its ambitions this year and its long-term prospects.

The NUPRC said oil producers could not satisfy the demands because some had operational challenges while others pledged most of their output to traders who financed drilling. It also said forcing them to raise their supply would violate their contracts.

In its statement on Friday, the regulator also projected national average crude oil production of 1.7 million bpd by December 2024, higher than the 1.57 million bpd it projected for January through July, which producers did not meet.

"This comprehensive data provides insight into the projected crude oil needs for the refineries, crucial for understanding the energy landscape in Nigeria for the second half of 2024," Gbenga Komolafe, head of the NUPRC said in the statement.

NUPRC data showed that eight refineries are expected to be operational from August, with a total refining capacity of 864,500 bpd, meaning that oil producers would be required to supply over half that.

A total of 52 oil producers, including majors TotalEnergies, Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil will supply the crude, mainly from their joint venture operations with Nigerian state oil firm, the NNPCL.

Reuters

The ongoing dispute between Nigeria and the United Kingdom over Air Peace's access to London Heathrow Airport highlights a critical issue of fairness and reciprocity in international air travel agreements. The UK's consistent denial of slot allocation to Air Peace at Heathrow, despite the airline's persistent efforts, stands in stark contrast to the open access British carriers have long enjoyed to Nigeria's primary airports in Lagos and Abuja.

This situation not only violates the spirit of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) between the two nations but also threatens to escalate into a diplomatic row with potential economic consequences for both countries. The principle of reciprocity is a cornerstone of international aviation agreements, and the UK's failure to honor this principle undermines the trust and cooperation that have characterized Nigeria-UK relations.

Nigeria's Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has rightly expressed the government's displeasure and warned of potential reciprocal actions. If the UK authorities continue to deny Air Peace access to Heathrow, Nigeria may be forced to restrict British Airways and Virgin Atlantic's access to its primary airports. Such a move, while regrettable, would be a justified response to the UK's apparent disregard for the BASA agreement.

It is crucial to recognize that this is not merely about airline preferences. Heathrow's proximity to central London offers significant advantages in terms of passenger convenience and business opportunities. By relegating Air Peace to Gatwick Airport, the UK is effectively placing Nigerian carriers at a competitive disadvantage, which goes against the principles of fair trade and equal opportunity that both nations purportedly uphold.

The UK authorities must understand that their actions have broader implications. The goodwill generated by decades of British Airways' operations in Nigeria since 1936 is at risk of being eroded. Moreover, the UK stands to lose more if this situation escalates. Nigeria's growing economy and large population make it a valuable market for British airlines. Losing access to primary airports in Lagos and Abuja would be a significant blow to British carriers and the UK economy.

In the interest of maintaining strong bilateral relations and ensuring fair competition in the aviation sector, the UK must take immediate steps to address this issue. Allocating appropriate slots to Air Peace at Heathrow Airport would not only demonstrate good faith but also reinforce the UK's commitment to honoring international agreements.

As we move forward, it is imperative that both nations engage in frank and constructive dialogue to resolve this impasse. The UK must recognize that its obligations under the BASA agreement supersede any third-party arrangements with airport concessionaires. Failure to do so risks not only damaging aviation ties but also souring broader economic and diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In conclusion, the ball is now in the UK's court. By respecting the provisions of the BASA agreement and granting Air Peace access to Heathrow, the UK can avoid a potentially damaging reciprocal action from Nigeria. This would not only be a win for fair competition but also a reaffirmation of the strong ties between the two countries. The time for equitable treatment in international aviation is now, and the UK must rise to the occasion.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Using his sleeve to wipe tear gas from his burning eyes, 25-year-old Mugdho weaves through the crowd, handing out bottles of water to the protesters whose demands for reform would soon topple Bangladesh’s leader.

Fifteen minutes later, the university student would become a martyr of the protest movement, when a bullet pierced his forehead as he paused to rest during the searing afternoon heat in the capital Dhaka.

Mugdho – whose full name was Mir Mahfuzur Rahman – was rushed to hospital by his friend and fellow protesters, but it was too late, his twin Snigdho – Mir Mahbubur Rahman – told CNN. “I just hugged him, and I cried.”

The video of Mugdho handing out water before his death on July 18 punctured the social news feeds of millions across Bangladesh, galvanizing more people to take to the streets calling for justice for the lives lost.

What began as peaceful protests against a quota system for government jobs spiraled into a nationwide movement to push longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina out of office, resulting in a deadly crackdown and clasheswhich killed at least 300 people, according to analysis by local media and agencies.

“(The killings) kept happening, and everyone was silent,” said Farah Porshia, a 23-year-old protester who works at a tech company in Dhaka. “We needed to stand up for ourselves, and for democracy.”

Hasina fled to India by helicopter last week as tens of thousands of protesters marched on her home. By Thursday, the Bangladeshi economist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus had returned to Dhaka to form a temporary government, ahead of elections which the constitution states should be held within 90 days.

“I’m surprised by the amount of power we hold,” Porshia said. “Because for years, all of us have been feeling so powerless.”

Families seek justice

As the chaos of the last month is replaced by an uneasy calm, many families are now seeking accountability for the deaths of their loved ones.

Identical twins Mugdho and Snigdho were inseparable since birth – eating, sleeping and studying together, sharing clothes as well as secrets.

“He was not only my brother, he was my best friend, he is one of the parts of my body,” Snigdho said. “We used to do everything together.”

Math graduate Mugdho was studying for an MBA, and Snigdho had graduated with a law degree. The twins were planning to move to Italy this fall – to further their studies and explore Europe on motorbikes. To save money for their travels, they were doing social media marketing for the online freelancer hub Fiver.

Now, Snigdho and the twins’ older brother Dipto – Mir Mahmudur Rahman – are facing a future without Mugdho.

They kept hold of the university ID card Mugdho wore on a lanyard around his neck when he died – his spattered blood left to dry as a symbol of that dark day.

Now, they are trying to find solace from the impact Mugdho made on the protest movement.

“Because of him, people got the strength to do the protest,” Snigdho said. “He always used to say that ‘I will make my parents proud someday.’ That moment has come.”

Mugdho died two days after another pivotal moment in the protests – the death of 25-year-old Abu Sayed on July 16, captured on video which was widely circulated.

Amnesty International analyzed the videos and accused police officers of deliberately firing at Sayed with 12-gauge shotguns in a “seemingly intentional, unprovoked attack,” and condemned the authorities for using “unlawful force.”

CNN tried to reach the police for comment.

The shocking deaths of Sayed and Mugdho catapulted the unrest from being a largely student-led protest into the mainstream.

“Everybody was on the streets, people of every race, every religion, every ethnicity, of all ages, professionals, students, infants were on the roads,” Porshia said.

Among the hundreds of people who have reportedly died during the clashes over the past few weeks, UNICEF says at least 32 were children.

In a tiny shack made of corrugated metal and mud in the heart of Dhaka, the parents of 13-year-old victim Mubarak are still trying to process what happened to their son.

His mother Fareeda Begum rocks back and forth, weeping as she watches Mubarak’s TikTok videos on her phone – now all that she has left of him.

The youngest of four and the only one who still lived at home, Mubarak often helped his parents with their cows so they could sell milk to survive.

“He was a smiling, happy boy. If you gave him work, he would never say no, he would do it with a smile,” his father Mohammad Ramzan Ali said, adding that he could also be “a little mischievous.”

Mubarak was outside playing with his friends on July 19 when the curious teenager wandered a short distance from their home in central Dhaka to see the protests.

The parents only found out that he’d been shot when they got a call from the hospital.

Holding his wife Fareeda in his arms as her tears rolled down her face, Ali said, “My son has been martyred for this movement.”

“I did not understand this quota protest before, we are uneducated,” he said. “But later what I understood is that this protest isn’t just for students, it’s for all of Bangladesh.”

CNN

Israel keeps up strikes in Gaza as fears of wider war grow

Israeli forces pressed on with operations near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Monday amid an international push for a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and prevent a slide into a wider regional conflict with Iran and its proxies.

Palestinian medics said Israeli military strikes on Khan Younis on Monday killed at least 18 people and wounded several. Meanwhile more families and displaced persons streamed out of areas threatened by new evacuation orders telling people to clear the area.

Later an Israeli airstrike killed five people in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City, and two others were killed in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, medics said.

As fighting continued, Hamas reacted sceptically to the latest round of Egyptian and Qatari-brokered talks due on Thursday, saying it had seen no sign of movement from the Israeli side.

The group said on Sunday that mediators must force Israel to accept a ceasefire proposal based on ideas from U.S. President Joe Biden, which Hamas had accepted, "instead of pursuing further rounds of negotiations or new proposals that would provide cover for the occupation's aggression".

Two sources close to Hamas told Reuters the group was convinced the new call for talks was coordinated beforehand with Israel to deter responses from Iran and Hezbollah to the assassination of the group's chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran and a top Hezbollah leader in Lebanon.

"It is a mild rejection you can say. Should Hamas receive a workable plan, an Israeli positive response to the proposal it had accepted, things may change, but so far Hamas believes Netanyahu isn't serious about reaching a deal," said one Palestinian official close to the mediation effort.

Hamas' reaction to the talks came as preparations for a larger scale confrontation grew, with Washington ordering a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and the Abraham Lincoln strike group accelerating its deployment to the region.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that Iran was making preparations for a large-scale military attack on Israel, Barack Ravid, a normally well-sourced reporter for Axios News, reported on Twitter.

Israel has been braced for a major attack since last month when a missile killed 12 youngstersin the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Israel responded by killing a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

A day after that operation, Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was assassinated in Tehran, drawing Iranian vows of retaliation against Israel.

The potential escalation underlined how far the Middle East has been thrown into turmoil by the Gaza war, now in its 11th month.

A Hamas-led attack on Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7 killed some 1,200 people, with more than 250 taken into captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies, in one of the most devastating blows against Israel in its history.

In response, Israeli forces have flattened Gaza, displaced most of the population and killed around 40,000 people, according to the Palestinian health ministry, in a war that has caused horror around the world.

On Saturday, scores of people were killed in Israeli strikes on a school building in Gaza City that the military said targeted fighters from the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The Israeli military on Monday released an updated document with names and other details of 31 fighters it said were killed in Saturday's strike.

Hamas and the Islamic Jihad denied any of their fighters were present at the school.

Gaza health officials say most of the conflict's fatalities have been civilians but Israel says at least a third were fighters. Israel says it has lost 330 soldiers in Gaza.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine taking heavy losses in Kursk – FT

Ukrainian troops that invaded Russia’s Kursk Region have taken heavy losses in men and Western-provided vehicles, the Financial Times (FT) has reported.

The attack that began last Tuesday involved units drawn from six Ukrainian frontline brigades, soldiers told the outlet. They also claimed to have caught the Russians by surprise, but quickly came under fire from drones and FAB glide bombs.

Russian estimates of over 1,600 Ukrainians killed were “impossible to verify” and “exaggerated,” according to the FT, which nevertheless reported “many ambulances and armored medical evacuation vehicles rushed to and from the front line.”

FAB glide bombs also reportedly “wiped out some Ukrainian troops and valuable western-provided equipment.” The group of fighters interviewed by the paper on Sunday said their Stryker – a wheeled US-made armored vehicle – had been demaged and had to be towed back into Ukraine where it would be cannibalized for parts.

According to the soldiers, the goal of the operation was to capture Russian territory as a bargaining chip and force Moscow to divert troops from the Donbass front.

“We can fight here and take their territory. And then negotiations can start, and we will have some land of theirs to trade for our land,” said one soldier, identified as ‘Denys.’

Ukraine reportedly stripped its frontline of troops to stage the Kursk incursion. According to the FT, the soldiers interviewed had fought in Kharkov and on the Donetsk front, at places such as Chasov Yar and a settlement called New York.

“These cities are already lost. They are only ours on the map. The Russians have wiped them out,” Denys said.

The invading force lost 70 armored vehicles just on Sunday, according to unofficial Russian estimates making the rounds on social media, which claimed this was a record for any one day since the conflict escalated in February 2022.

According to acting Kursk Region Governor Aleksey Smirnov, Ukrainian forces have advanced about 12km into Russia and occupied about 28 settlements. At least 12 Russian civilians have been killed and another 121 injured, including ten children. Over 120,000 residents have been evacuated from the border region over the past week, Smirnov said.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine touts huge gains in Kursk region as it takes war back to Russia

Ukraine said on Monday its biggest cross-border assault of the war had captured 1,000 square kilometres (386 square miles) of Russia's Kursk region and that Russian President Vladimir Putin would have to be forced into making peace.

With Russia still struggling to repel the surprise assault a week after it began, Ukraine's top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi briefed President Volodymyr Zelenskiy by video link and said the advance into Russian territory was ongoing.

"We continue to conduct an offensive operation in the Kursk region. Currently, we control about 1,000 square kilometres of the territory of the Russian Federation," he said in a video published on Zelenskiy's Telegram account.

He provided scant other detail, continuing Kyiv's strategy of silence that contrasts starkly with last year's counteroffensive that was known about for months in advance and which foundered on Russian defensive lines.

Syrskyi spoke a few hours after Alexei Smirnov, Russia's acting regional governor of Kursk, estimated that Kyiv's forces had taken control of 28 settlements in an incursion that was about 12 km deep and 40 km wide.

Though less than half Syrkyi's estimate of the Ukrainian gains, Smirnov's remarks were a striking public admission of a major Russian setback more than 29 months since it launched a full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour.

Reuters was unable to verify the claims by either side.

Putin has described the cross-border attack as a "major provocation" and said it was aimed at improving Kyiv's negotiating position.

Zelenskiy told Ukrainians in his nightly address that the operation was a matter of Ukrainian security and the Kursk region had been used by Russia to launch many strikes against Ukraine.

He said Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region, which lies across the border from Kursk region, had been struck by Russia almost 2,100 times since June 1.

"Russia must be forced to make peace if Putin wants to fight so badly," Zelenskiy said.

DIVERT TROOPS

The Ukrainian attack comes after months of slow but steady advances by Russian forces in the east that has forced Ukraine's troops onto the back foot as they try to withstand Russia's heavy use of gliding bombs and assault troops.

Former Ukrainian defence minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk told Reuters the Kursk operation looked like it aimed to distract Russian forces and its leadership from the eastern fronts.

"The apparent goal is to create a problem area for Russia, which will distract its forces and its leadership's attention and resources from where they're trying to succeed right now," he said by phone.

Visiting Kyiv on Monday, U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham urged the U.S. presidential administration to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs.

"What do I think about Kursk? Bold, brilliant, beautiful. Keep it up," he told reporters.

Putin has said Ukraine had received help from its "Western masters" and vowed that "the enemy will certainly receive a worthy response".

RT/Reuters