The New York Times Morning Briefing November 3, 2023 covering Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza and signs of a weakening economy in England.

 

November 3, 2023 Continue reading the main story SUPPORTED BY META

By Jonathan Wolfe

Good morning. We’re covering Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza and signs of a weakening economy in England.

Plus: Celebrating all things wool in the Shetland Islands.

Destroyed buildings in northern Gaza seen from Sderot, Israel, yesterday.Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times

Israeli troops enter Gaza City, as U.S. presses for a pause

Israeli soldiers have encircled Gaza City, the Israeli military said yesterday, waging “face-to-face battles” with Hamas as they push forward with what officials have predicted will be a long and bloody ground invasion.

As the ground invasion has escalated and airstrikes have continued, Israel has come under increasing international pressure to cease the campaign, or at least temporarily pause the fighting with Hamas, to allow humanitarian aid into the enclave.

White House officials said that when the secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, arrives in Israel today he will urge the Israeli government to agree to a series of brief cessations of military operations in Gaza. The “humanitarian pauses,” as American officials are calling them, are meant to allow for hostages to be released safely and for aid to be distributed. The request is different from an overall cease-fire, which the Biden administration believes would benefit Hamas.

Israeli officials have consistently rejected calls to stop or temporarily pause the fighting, saying they have yet to achieve their goal of destroying Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza.

The Israeli military said yesterday that it had struck over 12,000 targets in Gaza since the beginning of the war. More than 9,000 people in Gaza have died in the Israeli airstrikes, according to Gazan officials.

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Criticism of Israel has intensified as the death toll from airstrikes rises. A Hamas official promised more attacks against Israel similar to those of Oct. 7. In the West Bank, violence by Israeli settler extremists is hitting its highest levels in years, and there is risk of another front opening in the war.

Ukrainian soldiers firing toward a front line in eastern Ukraine last month.Nicole Tung for The New York Times

Ukraine’s top commander says the war with Russia is at a stalemate

Ukraine’s top commander has acknowledged that his forces are locked in a “stalemate” with Russia along a front line that has barely shifted, despite months of fierce fighting, and that no significant breakthrough was imminent. It was the most candid assessment so far by a leading Ukrainian official of the military’s stalled counteroffensive.

“Just like in the First World War, we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” the commander, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, told The Economist. The general said that modern technology and precision weapons on both sides were preventing troops from breaching enemy lines, and called for advances in electronic warfare as a way to break the deadlock.

In Britain, the inflation rate has dropped to just below 7 percent, from a peak of about 11 percent a year ago.Henry Nicholls/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

England sees signs of a weakening economy

The Bank of England held interest rates at the highest levels in 15 years yesterday amid signs that the economy was weakening. The bank, which kept rates at 5.25 percent, said that interest rates would need to remain high for an “extended” period.

The economy is expected to flatline for most of the next two years, the bank said in projections that accompanied the rate decision. Specifically, the bank forecast that data would show that the economy was stagnant in the third quarter of this year, would grow 0.1 percent in the final three months of the year and then would remain about flat into 2025.

High inflation also looks to be a stubborn problem. Expectations for the inflation rate in 2024 and 2025 are now slightly higher than they were a few months ago.

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A MESSAGE FROM META

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THE LATEST NEWS

Around the World

Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

A storm lashed Britain and much of Western Europe yesterday with heavy rains and strong winds that left at least six people dead. Sam Bankman-Fried, whose cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, collapsed last year, was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy. China is installing about as many solar panels and wind turbines as the rest of the world combined, but it’s also building coal plants faster than anyone else.

Other Big Stories

Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Donald Trump’s two eldest sons took the stand yesterday in a civil fraud case against them, their father and the family business. The planet could exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming this decade and 2 degrees by 2050, according to a new study. The U.S. House passed a bill that would tie $14.3 billion in military aid for Israel to domestic spending cuts but provided no money for Ukraine.

What Else is Happening

A 49-year-old woman was charged with three counts of murder in a suspected mushroom poisoning case that has gripped Australia. South Africans are savoring a men’s Rugby World Cup championship, producing a racial unity that even Hollywood couldn’t make up. Researchers at the University of Cambridge recently released an interactive medieval murder map, featuring the back stories of more than 300 murders in English cities.

A Morning Read

Andrew Testa for The New York Times

On the Shetland Islands, a remote archipelago off Scotland’s coast, the hottest event of the year is Shetland Wool Week, a festival of intricately crafted textiles. It draws hundreds of knitters from around the world for all things wool.

SPORTS NEWS

Charly Musonda on Chelsea: A wonderfully gifted player blighted by injury.

Banning your own fans: Why Celtic has taken action against the Green Brigade.

F.A. Cup inspiration: How soccer’s oldest cup competition helped shape the N.B.A.’s new tournament.

Enjoy our newsletters? We’ve reserved a selection only for subscribers like you. Explore the list.

ARTS AND IDEAS

Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; via Sotheby’s

Will the art market discount masterpieces?

The $60 billion art market is blazing hot, but after an unusually weak spring auction season, major auction houses are offering concessions and pricing some of their top items more conservatively.

One expert said that there was a noticeable increase in guarantees from auction houses and third parties, which provide sellers with a confirmed minimum sales price on a piece of art. In another noticeable downshift, the rampant speculation in the ultracontemporary market for young artists born since 1975 has decreased, one expert said.

What is behind this more cautious market? Magnus Resch, an art market economist, said that higher interest rates and the global uncertainty caused by the major wars in Europe and the Middle East may be to blame.

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Read “A Haunting on the Hill” by Elizabeth Hand, or one of these other eight books we recommend this week.

Listen to “Now and Then,” which is billed by its label as “the last Beatles song.”

Watch “Nyad,” in which Annette Bening plays the long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad.

Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today’s Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. Have a great weekend. Natasha will be back Monday. — Jonathan

P.S. The Run-Up, The Times’s elections podcast, is back.

You can reach Jonathan and the team at briefing@nytimes.com.