FirstFT: Netanyahu signals ground invasion

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Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday said Israel was “preparing a ground invasion” of the Gaza Strip, in one of the clearest statements yet that his government was planning to enter the Palestinian enclave in its war to topple Hamas.

In an address to the nation yesterday evening, the Israeli leader vowed to fight the militant group “above ground, underground, in Gaza and outside Gaza” but gave no timeline for when any ground operation would occur.

“We are the sons of light and they are the sons of darkness,” said Netanyahu, who has compared Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, to the Islamic State terrorist group.

His remarks come amid a large deployment of Israeli troops at the Gaza border and a build-up of US military assets in the region, as Washington seeks to deter Iran and its regional allies from attacking US troops or opening a new front against the Jewish state.

“We are preparing for a ground invasion,” a sombre and tired-looking Netanyahu said, dressed all in black, in a primetime address to Israelis. “I won’t specify when, how or how many. I also won’t specify the entirety of the considerations that are being taken into account — most of which are unknown to the public, as it needs to be.”

Netanyahu said the timing of a ground assault would be made by a unanimous decision of the war cabinet and senior army commanders. “All Hamas members are dead men,” he said.

Read the full story here and the latest news on the Israel-Hamas war here.

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

• ECB interest rate decision: The European Central Bank is expected to keep rates unchanged for the first time in 15 months.

• BoE speech: The Bank of England’s deputy governor Jon Cunliffe is due to speak at the Economics of Payments XII Conference in Washington.

• Earnings: Accor, BNP Paribas, Bristol Myers Squibb, Danone, Heathrow, HelloFresh, Mercedes-Benz, Merck, Northrop Grumman, Sodexo and Volkswagen report.

Five more top stories

1. Denmark and other EU countries have detected up to €16bn in unallocated funding that Brussels did not seem to have taken into account when making a request for capitals to fund an additional €100bn for the next four years. An EU diplomat said the unallocated funds showed the commission “hasn’t done its homework properly before asking for a whole lot of extra money”.

2. A new book by the UK’s shadow chancellor has been found to contain examples of apparent plagiarism. Rachel Reeves’s book, The Women Who Made Modern Economics, includes reproduced material from online blogs, Wikipedia, The Guardian and a report foreword by Labour MP Hilary Benn without acknowledging the sources. Here are more examples that Financial Times reporters found using manual checks.

3. Abu Dhabi’s International Holding Company has expressed interest in taking over a key Zambian copper mine. The approach by the United Arab Emirates’ largest listed company comes as South African miner Sibanye-Stillwater is vying to take on Mopani Copper Mines, a prized but struggling state-owned asset in Africa’s second-biggest producing country.

4. UK charities are urging ministers to scrap plans to tighten eligibility for sickness benefits, warning they could cause severe hardship. As the Conservative party seeks to draw dividing lines with the Labour opposition, chancellor Jeremy Hunt has signalled he will look to tighten sanctions on benefits claimants who fail to look for jobs.

5. Morgan Stanley has named Ted Pick as its new chief executive, replacing James Gorman, who will bow out on January 1 after leading the Wall Street bank for nearly 14 years. Gorman took over Morgan Stanley shortly after it almost failed during the 2008 financial crisis and transformed it into a wealth management behemoth.

News in-depth

Qatar has hosted the political office of Hamas since 2012 and poured hundreds of millions of dollars of aid into Gaza. It is also one of the few states that has good relations with both the US and Iran. With fighting raging between Israel and Hamas, Qatar now faces questions about its willingness to host the Islamist group’s political leadership in Doha.

We’re also reading and listening to . . . 

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Chart of the day

Turkey’s stock market tumbled yesterday after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stepped up his criticism of Israel and its allies. The Israel-Hamas conflict has come at a time when Ankara is desperate to secure western investment to fuel its economic overhaul.

Take a break from the news

When you’re carrying your life around, you need to make a sizeable investment. Check out the big men’s bag guide from HTSI.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm