World roundup: April 29 2024

Stories from Israel-Palestine, Nigeria, NATO, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

April 29, 1770: The HMS Endeavour, commanded by Royal Navy Captain James Cook, makes landfall at what is now eastern Australia’s Botany Bay. Cook’s expedition had set out on August 26, 1768, in part tasked with searching for the hitherto only rumored Terra Australis Incognita (‘unknown southern land’). The Endeavour reached the already discovered New Zealand on October 6, 1769, then sailed around the islands to demonstrate that they were not that southern landmass. Cook then continued west until he and his men became the first Europeans to set foot on modern Australia. Royal Society geographers insisted that there must be a larger southern landmass that Cook had missed, so he made a second voyage (1772-1775) that included the first European crossing of the Antarctic Circle and proved that no such landmass existed in temperate waters. An American vessel became the first ship known to set eyes on Antarctica in 1820.

April 29, 1916: A British army besieged at Kut, in Iraq, surrenders to the Ottomans in what was the worst military disaster in British history to that point.

MIDDLE EAST

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

Optimism about the possibility of a ceasefire agreement remains high though from what I can tell there’s been nothing new on that front since yesterday. Hamas sent a delegation to Cairo on Monday to discuss the latest proposal with the Egyptian government after claiming that it had “no major issues” with the offer on the table. The Israeli government will presumably have the last word on what is or is not a “major issue.” For now, the Hamas team returned to Qatar for consultations and is reportedly planning to deliver its response to the proposal soon. The latest Israeli offer includes language about restoring “sustainable calm” to Gaza, which is at least suggestive of an indefinite ceasefire but may in the text refer to a potential one year ceasefire to be negotiated alongside the initial 30-40 day ceasefire and prisoner exchange (and would also involve the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza). One year isn’t indefinite, but so much can change over the course of a year (for better or worse) that it’s pretty close. We’ll see if it was close enough for Hamas.

In the meantime, of course, the Israeli military (IDF) is continuing to pummel Rafah. A ceasefire at this point seems to be the only thing that would forestall a potential ground assault on that city, but it’s important to bear in mind that the IDF is still killing people there by the dozens.