In today’s newsletter: Wild celebrations on both sides – but prospects for an enduring peace rest on compromises that appear difficult to reach
Good morning. The last 20 living Israeli hostages in Gaza were freed yesterday, after more than two years in captivity. Meanwhile, huge crowds in Ramallah greeted some of the 2,000 Palestinians – 1,700 of them held without charge – released by Israel in exchange.
Even against the backdrop of the horrors of the 7 October attack, and the Israeli assault that killed more than 67,000 Palestinians and left Gaza a wasteland, the scenes of reunion were overwhelming to watch. This picture gallery of Israeli hostages being reunited with their families captures something of an extraordinary day of catharsis and relief.
Environment | Millions more homes in England, Scotland and Wales face devastating floods, and some towns may have to be abandoned as climate breakdown makes many areas uninsurable, a Guardian investigation has found.
UK news | Tommy Robinson claimed Elon Musk was paying his legal costs as he went on trial for refusing to comply with a request made by counter-terrorism police as he tried to leave Britain last year.
Espionage | The government made “every effort” to support the trial of two men accused of spying for China, security minister Dan Jarvis has said, as he accused the Tories of claiming the case was deliberately abandoned “without a shred of evidence”.
UK politics | The families of the murdered MPs David Amess and Jo Cox have voiced concern about a recent surge in violent political rhetoric in Britain.
Nobel prize | Three experts in the power of technology to drive economic growth have been awarded this year’s Nobel prize in economics.
Peace in Gaza represents an opportunity to forget; to erase from the collective consciousness an era in which some western countries took a bludgeon to international norms and institutions, and indeed their own domestic politics, in order to force through the destruction of Gaza.”
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