First Thing: Netanyahu announces plan to take over Gaza City in further escalation

The proposal would involve sending Israeli ground troops into the remaining territory and further displacement of starving Palestinians. Plus, Trump is compared to Stalin over the revision of historic climate reports

Good morning.

Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City, the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has said, marking another escalation in the 22-month offensive that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed most of Gaza and pushed the territory into famine.

Ahead of the security cabinet meeting, which began Thursday and ran through the night, Netanyahu had said Israel planned to retake control of the entire territory and eventually hand it off to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas.

The announced plans stop short of that, perhaps reflecting the reservations of Israel’s top general, who reportedly warned it would endanger the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and further strain Israel’s army after nearly two years of regional wars. Many families of hostages are also opposed, fearing further escalation will doom their loved ones.

• If signed off by the full cabinet, what will the plan mean? It will involve sending ground troops into the city – one of the few areas of Gaza that has not been turned into an Israeli buffer zone or placed under evacuation orders.

• What has the reaction to the Israeli security cabinet’s decision been? It has ignited protests at home and abroad, and the UN has called for the plan to be “immediately halted”.

Neo-Nazi leader sentenced to 20 years for plot to attack Maryland’s power grid

The founder of a Florida-based neo-Nazi group has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for planning an attack on Maryland’s power grid.

Brandon Russell, 30, was convicted earlier this year for conspiring to plan the attack with his girlfriend. Prosecutors detailed his long-term links to white supremacist groups and his recent efforts to organize “sniper attacks” on electrical substations around Baltimore. The attack aimed to trigger societal collapse by targeting the energy infrastructure of the majority-Black city.

• What had Russell planned to do after the attack? Russell and his co-defendant, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, aimed to “create their own bizarre utopia populated by people who only look and think like they do”, according to the US district judge James Bredar.

Trump says he will meet Putin despite Kremlin’s refusal to talk to Kyiv

Donald Trump has said he will meet Vladimir Putin despite the Russian leader’s refusal to meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Friday marks Trump’s original deadline for Russia to take action on ending its invasion of Ukraine, or face sanctions and further tariffs.

Trump’s latest announcement quashes speculation that the US had demanded direct talks between the two warring presidents as a prerequisite of a Trump-Putin summit.

• What has Putin said about meeting Zelenskyy? That “certain conditions must be created” for it to happen. The Kremlin has claimed preparations are under way for a bilateral summit with Trump next week.

In other news …

• More than 60 countries around the globe are racing to respond to the latest wave of US tariffs, which came into effect on Thursday.

• Trump said he would host the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday for a summit, claiming he had helped secure a “historic” peace deal between the two countries.

• A Secret Service request to raise an Ohio river’s level to accommodate JD Vance’s family boating trip was made “without the knowledge of the vice-president”, his office has said.

Stat of the day: 64% of the DRC’s forests could be directly affected if oil licenses are awarded

For the second time in three years, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is auctioning off vast tracts of the Congo basin rainforest – one of the best-preserved tropical ecosystems left on Earth and home to rare wildlife. While the last attempt failed, environmentalists fear the current political climate, shaped by the Trump administration, could mean there is less resistance. The awarding of these licenses could directly affect 39 million Congolese people and 64% of the DRC’s forests, a campaigner warned.

Don’t miss this: ‘I’m a scam hunter who got scammed’

Bringing home the point that anyone – no matter how smart they are or knowledgable about scams – can become the victim of a con, today’s Guardian Experience hears from a scam hunter who had a £16,000 ($21,500) loan taken out in her name. Fortunately, she was able to have it canceled after she proved she had been scammed, but discusses the emotional toll a scam can take: “I worried about whether to share that I’d been scammed. It’s common for people to victim blame and say they’d never fall for it, but it can happen to anyone.”

Climate check: Scientists blast Trump energy chief’s plan to ‘update’ climate reports

Scientists have slammed the US energy secretary, Chris Wright, after he revealed that the Trump administration would “update” national climate assessment reports published by past governments. One said their “worst fears” had been confirmed while another senior climate scientist said the revisions were “exactly what Joseph Stalin did”, referring to the Russian dictator’s use of his power to doctor historical records. The development comes days after the agency produced a report claiming concern over the climate emergency was exaggerated – a report decried by scientists as a “farce”.

Last Thing: Just when you thought it was warm enough to go back in the water …

If you’ve been for a swim in the sea recently that has been more bracing than refreshing, you might appreciate Stephen Collins’s latest cartoon. When was the last time you ran into the ocean with childlike joy?

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