First Civilian Convoy Evacuates Gaza

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the first civilian evacuees out of Gaza, North Korean embassy closures, and an AI safety summit in the United Kingdom.

The first wave of civilian evacuees left Gaza on Wednesday via Egypt’s Rafah border crossing. Ambulances transported more than 300 foreign nationals and around 80 critically wounded Palestinians into northern Egypt, where they first underwent strict security checks before being admitted to al-Arish hospital. Qatar helped negotiate their release, further cementing its role as a prime mediator in the Israel-Hamas war.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), military officials submitted a list of 500 foreign nationals for evacuation, but Hamas pushed back against the proposed number. Around 6,000 foreigners remain trapped in Gaza, including as many as 600 U.S. citizens.

Until now, Egypt’s Rafah border crossing has exclusively been used to transport aid into Gaza since the conflict began. Twenty trucks carrying food, water, and medical supplies entered the region on Wednesday, bringing the total since the war began to more than 160 convoys. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, however, has called this number “completely inadequate and not commensurate with the needs of people in Gaza.”

The humanitarian crisis is expected to worsen as Israel continues its ground offensive into Gaza City. The region’s largest telecommunications provider lost all phone and internet services on Wednesday—Gaza’s second near-total communications blackout in a week.

Since the war began on Oct. 7, more than 8,500 Palestinians have been killed and more than 21,500 others injured, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said. That includes the fatalities from an Israeli airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp on Tuesday that killed more than 50 Palestinians and a Hamas commander, the IDF said. Hamas militants put the casualty count at around 400 people. Around 1,400 Israelis have been killed thus far.

International calls for a cease-fire are coming with harsher consequences. Following the refugee camp attack, Bolivia cut diplomatic ties with Israel, its second time doing so over Israeli operations in Gaza in the past 15 years. It’s among the first nations to make such a drastic policy change.

Hamas quickly endorsed Bolivia’s actions and called for other nations to follow its lead, pointing fingers at majority-Muslim nations that recently normalized relations with Israel, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco. Meanwhile, Chile and Colombia recalled their ambassadors to Israel, and Mexico and Brazil reiterated demands for a humanitarian pause in fighting. Chile, in particular, has the largest Palestinian community outside of the Middle East.

• Universities Shouldn’t Ever Take Sides in a War by Stephen M. Walt
• The Israel-Hamas War Has Entered a ‘New Phase.’ Here’s What to Expect. by Daniel Byman
• The Dream of a European Security Order With Russia Is Dead by Kristi Raik

Growing isolationism. North Korea announced on Wednesday that it will shutter nearly a quarter of its embassies around the world in a historic tightening for the Hermit Kingdom’s already isolated global status. Pyongyang signaled that the missions it will close in the near future include those in Spain, Hong Kong, Uganda, and Angola, bringing its total number of foreign offices to 49 diplomatic missions.

According to South Korea’s unification ministry, North Korea’s embassy closures highlight Pyongyang’s struggles to afford overseas operations. Western sanctions have curtailed funding for the autocracy’s nuclear and missile programs as well as weakened the nation’s economic standing.

Bletchley Park takes on AI. Britain kicked off a major artificial intelligence summit on Wednesday. World leaders—including U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Chinese Technology Vice Minister Wu Zhaohui—attended the two-day gathering at Bletchley Park, where the U.K.’s top World War II codebreakers worked. The summit marks British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s largest effort yet to cement London’s role as a global leader in AI safety.

At this week’s meeting, tech executives and industry experts will discuss threats posed by AI and safety measures that governments can take to limit human rights abuses, such as infringements on privacy. Sunak has also hinted that he will propose a global advisory board, modeled after the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to regulate AI. The summit continues a week of major AI regulation efforts after U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Monday requiring greater transparency in AI development.

Myanmar sanctions. The United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom imposed new sanctions against Myanmar’s ruling junta, known as the Tatmadaw, on Tuesday in a trilateral effort to curtail human rights violations. The U.S. Treasury Department targeted the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, the Tatmadaw’s main source of revenue. Ottawa banned insurance for any person or ship involved in transporting aviation fuel into Myanmar. And London announced a new sanctions package on the junta’s arms dealers and financiers.

“These actions signal to the people of Myanmar that they have not been forgotten,” said Tom Andrews, the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, “but there is much more that the international community can and must do.” That must include rejecting the Tatmadaw’s legitimacy, he argued in January.

Litterers in Tokyo faced the wrath of samurai trash collectors on Wednesday. The garbage tong-wielding swordsmen, known as Gomihiroi Samurai, picked up Halloween candy wrappers, empty beer cans, and cigarette butts to draw attention to the city’s trash problem following a night of spooky festivities. Noble work, indeed, for some of Japan’s most revered warriors.