World Briefing: February 6, 2025

Gazans were defiant on Wednesday over any attempt to relocate them from the enclave, saying US President Donald Trump‘s plans to take control and redevelop the territory were “fantasies” bound to fail. The president made a surprise announcement on Tuesday alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US will “take over” Gaza and send in troops if necessary, in an astonishing pivot in American policy that could reshape the Middle East. “We’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it’ll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of,” Mr Trump told a news conference in Washington. He did not say whether Palestinians would be allowed back to Gaza, instead saying “the world’s people” would be welcome. It was not clear whether Mr Trump will press ahead with the idea or if his remarks were a bargaining strategy. - The National

The White House on Wednesday tried to soften the most extreme elements of President Donald Trump’s declaration that he wanted to take ownership of Gaza, floating a more limited vision of U.S. involvement in the region. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House news briefing that Palestinians would be displaced temporarily rather than permanently, as Trump had said a day earlier. She said he had made no U.S. troop commitments despite his vow that the United States would dismantle bombs and clear out the territory. And she said that no U.S. tax dollars would be spent in the years-long reconstruction effort despite Trump’s statement the day before that “the U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it. Leavitt’s explanation did little to appease critics, including a wide array of U.S. allies and Palestinians themselves, who condemned what they said would amount to an involuntary displacement of more than 2 million Gazans from their territory. - Washington Post

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday said he had instructed the military to prepare a plan that would enable Gazans seeking to leave the Strip voluntarily to do so. In a statement Thursday, Katz welcomed Trump’s “courageous plan, which could enable a wide swath of the population in Gaza to leave to various places around the world.” He said he had ordered the military to prepare a plan by which any resident who wants to can emigrate to any nation willing to take them in. The plan would provide for exits through land crossings, as well as “special arrangements” for departure via maritime and aerial routes, he said. “Gaza’s residents should be allowed the freedom to exit and emigrate, as is the practice anywhere around the world,” Katz suggested, adding that Trump’s plan could advance “rehabilitation plans in a demilitarized Gaza that poses no threat in the post-Hamas era, which will take many years.” Taking aim at countries critical of Israel throughout the war, Katz suggested potential destinations such as Spain, Ireland, Norway and other countries that have leveled “false accusations” against Israel, arguing that if those nations refuse to accept Palestinians, “their hypocrisy will be exposed.” He also mentioned Canada, which has “an organized immigration program” and has “previously voiced a willingness to absorb Gazan residents.” - Times of Israel

The White House ordered the C.I.A. to send an unclassified email listing all employees hired by the spy agency over the last two years to comply with an executive order to shrink the federal work force, in a move that former officials say risked the list leaking to adversaries. The list included first names and the first initial of the last name of the new hires, who are still on probation — and thus easy to dismiss. It included a large crop of young analysts and operatives who were hired specifically to focus on China, and whose identities are usually closely guarded because Chinese hackers are constantly seeking to identify them. The agency normally would prefer not to put these names in an unclassified system. Some former officials said they worried that the list could be passed on to a team of newly hired young software experts working with Elon Musk and his government efficiency team. If that happened, the names of the employees might be more easily targeted by China, Russia or other foreign intelligence services. One former agency officer called the reporting of the names in an unclassified email a “counterintelligence disaster.” - NYT

The US and Israel are on the same page when it comes to Iran not acquiring a nuclear weapon, Trump’s National Security Advisor Michael Waltz said in a Space conversation on X. He said all options are on the table in terms of how the US will get there. Trump said on Tuesday plans to restore his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and drive its oil exports down to zero. Trump has warned that he has left ‘instructions’ that if Iran assassinated him the US foe ‘would be obliterated.’ - News wires

Documents seen by the FT show French IT group Atos used staff in Russia to buy software in 2021 for an EU project that would gather and store data on all foreign visitors to the bloc.

Argentina has announced it will pull out of the World Health Organization (WHO), mirroring a similar move by US President Donald Trump last month. “President (Javier) Milei instructed (foreign minister) Gerardo Werthein to withdraw Argentina’s participation in the World Health Organization,” presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said at a news conference on Wednesday. “We Argentinians will not allow an international organization to intervene in our sovereignty, much less in our health,” he added. - CNN

The planet just had its hottest January on record by a considerable margin, in a surprise finding (seriously) to climate scientists. A La Niña event is ongoing in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which would typically be expected to cool the globe slightly. Yet that doesn’t appear to be the case — at least not yet. That the opposite is occurring suggests either a fluke or — combined with the record hot conditions in 2023 and again last year — something more mysterious. Climate scientists are still investigating multiple factors that may be causing the climate to warm at a faster rate than in other recent years, from changes in marine shipping fuels to the massive eruption of an undersea volcano. So far, there’s been no way to explain the 2023 and 2024 records, but the expectation is that this year will be a top 5 hottest year — just not first place - Axios

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