Knife-wielding Canadian shot dead near Gaza Strip; Israel orders civilians to leave Khan Younis

The Israeli military ordered civilians to leave parts of the Gazan city of Khan Younis due to a renewed assault against Hamas, even as it reduced the size of an already overcrowded humanitarian zone where they could potentially take shelter.

President Joe Biden is out of the 2024 race for the White House, but his team is signalling he’s not nearly finished yet when it comes to foreign policy.

Knife-wielding Canadian shot dead near Israel-Gaza boundary

A knife-wielding Canadian citizen was shot dead by Israeli guards near the boundary with the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army and police said, in a rare incident that may have been linked to international protests against the war in the Palestinian territory.

An official with Israel’s Interior Ministry said on Monday that the 22-year-old man, who hasn’t been identified, entered the country on a tourist visa. The Canadian embassy had no immediate comment, saying it would refer Bloomberg’s queries to Ottawa.

CCTV footage circulated on social media and unverified by Bloomberg appeared to show three security guards with guns shooting a man who approached them at the gate of the Israeli village of Netiv HaAsara. The community is half a kilometre from Gaza and was one of those targeted by Hamas-led militants during the 7 October attack that left about 1,200 people dead and triggered the ongoing conflict.

A police spokesperson described the Canadian as a terrorist and said he was killed in the incident. There were no other casualties, the spokesperson said.

Israel’s war against Hamas in retaliation for the 7 October invasion has triggered protests around the world, including in the US, in part due to the toll on Palestinian civilians. About 38,000 people have died in the air and ground campaign, according to health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza.

Much of the enclave has been reduced to rubble and aid agencies have struggled to deliver food and other assistance.

Israel tells more Gazans to relocate as Netanyahu visits US

The Israeli military ordered civilians to leave parts of the Gazan city of Khan Younis due to a renewed assault against Hamas, even as it reduced the size of an already overcrowded humanitarian zone where they could potentially take shelter.

The Israel Defense Forces “is about to forcefully operate against the terrorist organisations”, the military said in a statement on Monday. The remaining population in the eastern neighbourhoods of Khan Younis should temporarily move to the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, it said.

Hundreds of thousands of people displaced by more than nine months of fighting have taken up residence in Al-Mawasi, a sandy coastal expanse with little by way of infrastructure. Many families who were staying there have opted to return to Khan Younis — Gaza’s second-largest city — to escape appalling living conditions after Israeli ground forces initially withdrew from the town in early July.

The decision to decrease the size of the humanitarian zone and the order for civilians to relocate were based on precise intelligence that Hamas was operating in those areas, the military said.

The latest development in the conflict was announced as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embarks on a trip to Washington, during which he is scheduled to meet President Joe Biden and address a joint session of Congress.

Calls to leave Khan Younis were communicated to residents through text messages, phone calls and media broadcasts in Arabic. Israel directly contacted Gazan health officials and international aid organisations to stress there was no need to evacuate hospitals in the area.

Residents of eastern Khan Younis reported heavy shelling early on Monday. Thirty-five people were killed and 80 were injured in the aerial and ground bombardment, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said.

Iman Abu Baraka, who lives with her three children in a tent next to her ruined house in the area, said she received two calls on Monday morning instructing her to move to Al Mawasi.

“This would be our seventh displacement. We don’t know where to go or how to get to Al Mawasi,” she said by phone. “I’m thinking to stay here.”

Biden looks to project strength abroad despite lame-duck status

President Joe Biden is out of the 2024 race for the White House, but his team is signalling he’s not nearly finished yet when it comes to foreign policy.

Hours after Biden announced that he would not seek a second term, his top diplomat, Antony Blinken, wrote on X that the president had restored US leadership around the world. “I look forward to building on that record with him over the next six months,” wrote Blinken.

The post was an unmistakable message to allies and adversaries that he has no intention of letting up on US efforts to broker an Israel-Hamas peace deal, press for more weapons and funding for Ukraine and push back against Chinese support for Russian forces fighting there.

As with any transition of power, there’s a risk that the US’s foes conclude Biden is a spent force in world affairs and the time is ripe to challenge the US before he hands the reins to a largely untested Vice-President Kamala Harris or to Donald Trump, who routinely condemns nearly everything the president has stood for. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping may be tempted to confront — or simply ignore — the lame-duck US president.

Biden will get the first test of how much sway he still retains — or has already lost — when Netanyahu arrives in Washington for a previously planned visit this week.

Biden is scheduled to meet Netanyahu and seek to exert what influence he has to persuade the Israeli leader to commit to a ceasefire deal with Hamas that would end the fighting that has devastated the Gaza Strip and provoked fears of a wider war.

But the relationship has been turbulent for some time, especially given Netanyahu’s open support for Trump in the years he served as president. US officials are anxious about what Netanyahu may say when he addresses Congress later in the week and whether he will go after a weakened Biden. DM

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