World Briefing: September 2, 2024

The head of Israel's biggest labour union called for a general strike on Monday to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to bring back Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza, as thousands of protesters took to the streets. Earlier, Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in southern Gaza where they were apparently killed not long before Israeli troops reached them, according to the military, prompting fury and grief among Israelis. The call for a one-day general strike by Arnon Bar-David, whose Histadrut union represents hundreds of thousands of workers, was backed by Israel's main manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector. The alliance of some of the most powerful voices in Israel's economy reflected the scale of public anger over the deaths of the six hostages, who were among some 250 people seized by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 last year. "We must reach a deal (on the return of the surviving hostages). A deal is more important than anything else," Bar-David told a press conference. "We are getting body bags instead of a deal." Ben Gurion Airport, Israel's main air transport hub, will be closed from 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Monday, he said. Municipal services in Israel's economic hub Tel-Aviv will also be shut for part of Monday - Reuters

Meanwhile in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry says medical teams successfully vaccinated 72,611 children against polio yesterday. Sunday saw the first in a series of "humanitarian pauses" in fighting, to allow children to be vaccinated against the virus. The drive comes after UN officials said a 10-month-old baby is partially paralysed after contracting polio - Gaza's first recorded case in 25 years. Humanitarian groups say the virus has re-emerged as the war between Israel and Hamas has disrupted child vaccination programmes and caused damage to water and sanitation systems - BBC

The leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Thuringia, Björn Höcke, has called his party’s success in Sunday’s state elections a "historic victory". It's the first time since World War II that a far-right party appears set to enter a state parliament, with the AfD polling at over 32% of the vote, according to Sunday's exit polls. The conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has fallen to second place in popularity in the state, polling at over 23%. - Euronews

Apocalyptic scenes have emerged via photos and videos from a powerful series of Russian missile strikes Sunday on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. As of Sunday evening, at least 41 people were reported injured, including several children. The attack obliterated the Palace of Sports and a supermarket in the city. "Russia is once again terrorizing Kharkiv, striking civilian infrastructure and the city itself," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in the wake of the attacks. Kharkiv’s mayor said at least 10 separate Russian strikes had been recorded, including the use of ballistic missiles. Meanwhile, the capital Kyiv continue to endure long power outages - turning large swaths of the city into darkened moonscapes. Residents tell me a major frustration is that the published outage schedules don’t match reality and that it’s difficult to plan their activities.

Ukraine struck a major oil refinery in Moscow and other targets across Russia in one of its largest aerial barrages since the start of Russia’s invasion, expanding a campaign of drone attacks on energy facilities and further highlighting the vulnerability of strategic infrastructure deep inside Russia. Russia’s defense ministry said on Sunday that its air defenses had intercepted or shot down more than 150 drones in 15 regions. At least one of them detonated over a major refinery in Moscow that is owned by state energy giant Gazprom, officials said, while another hit a power station in the neighboring Tver region. Videos posted on social media showed large explosions engulfing parts of the oil refinery’s sprawling complex, located southeast of the city center. The videos couldn’t immediately be independently verified. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said one of the drones that struck the Moscow refinery had caused damage to an “adjacent technical facility” at the plant, without elaborating, and later said emergency services had put out the flames. He added that there were no casualties and the functioning of the plant hadn’t been affected. - WSJ

Justin Trudeau has moved to quell a public backlash to one of the world’s most progressive migration policies by rolling back Canada’s foreign worker scheme. Trailing in polls ahead of an election next year, the prime minister announced measures to slash the number of new arrivals. But executives worry the measures will curb their supply of cheap labour. Simranzeet Singh, manager of policy at the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, said that more consultation was needed to ensure “changes do not inadvertently harm our economy or critical services”. Trudeau told reporters on Monday that the government was “looking at the various (migration) streams to make sure that, as we move forward, Canada remains a place that is positive in its support for immigration but also responsible in the way we integrate and make pathways for success”. The move marked an abrupt change for Trudeau, who has championed Canada’s openness to migrants and welcomed refugees from war-ravaged countries including Syria and Ukraine. The foreign workers programme is credited with helping Canada recover from the pandemic but has been increasingly blamed for the high cost of housing, pressure on the healthcare system and rising youth unemployment. - FT

In May the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) invaded Rafah to establish control over the Gaza-Egypt border, an eight-mile strip of land known as the “Philadelphi Corridor”. However, satellite imagery analysed by Bellingcat shows a vast amount of destruction not only along the border but in more distant neighbourhoods too. In a residential neighbourhood about two kilometres from the border, Bellingcat found that roughly two-thirds of buildings had been demolished since the IDF launched its ground operation. Satellite imagery also reveals how the landscape in other parts of Rafah and southern Gaza has changed in recent months. Using a tracking tool developed by Bellingcat contributor Ollie Ballinger, we estimate the number of buildings damaged or destroyed in this region since the start of the war last October.

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