Nowhere to hide in Gaza

Civlians in Gaza are bearing the brunt of Israel’s campaign against Hamas [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven’t yet, sign up [here](. In Gaza, injured children arrive at hospitals with their names scrawled on their arms in case their parents don’t survive. Food supplies are dwindling amid a total power blackout. Israel has banned fuel shipments, which it says are being hoarded by Hamas, the militant group if vows to destroy. People line up for hours for bread and water, Fares Akram writes [in this look at life]( in Gaza. As Israel presses its invasion, with a ferocious bombing campaign, more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health authorities. Tens of thousands have protested in cities in Europe and elsewhere calling for an end to the violence. So far, Israel has refused calls for a pause in the campaign that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed for during a four-day trip to the region. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he won’t agree to a cease-fire unless Hamas releases the more than 240 Israeli and foreign hostages. They include dozens of children and elderly abducted on Oct. 7 when the group, classified as a terrorist organization by the US and European Union, rampaged through southern Israel and killed about 1,400 people. His government accuses Hamas of using civilians inside Gaza as human shields. In the meantime, finding a way to escape Israel’s bombs has become riskier since its military entered the enclave under a hail of tank shelling and air strikes, encircling Gaza City and cutting the territory into two. Over the weekend a bomb hit an ambulance convoy outside al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest medical facility, leaving at least a dozen people dead, according to local health officials. Israel said it was targeting Hamas fighters. With the war entering its second month, for civilians like Shuaib Yousef, who’s taken refuge in the yard of al-Shifa with his wife and two children, there’s nowhere to hide. “Things are getting worse every day,” he said. — [Henry Meyer]( Palestinians find victims in the rubble at the Maghazi refugee camp on Nov. 5 Photographer: Mohammed Talatene/picture alliance/Getty Images Global Must Reads China is overhauling its lending to developing nations, with the US and its Group of Seven allies catching up to the largest official creditor to the Global South. Beijing is moving away from the [big bilateral deals]( of a decade ago — when it launched its Belt and Road Initiative — in favor of collaborative agreements that reduce its exposure to financial risk, AidData at the US university, William and Mary, said in a report. A shrinking field of five US candidates will participate at the third Republican presidential debate in Miami tomorrow, but frontrunner [Donald Trump again won’t be joining them](. The group includes Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Australia’s relations with China have improved markedly, highlighted by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s [four-day visit to his country’s biggest trading partner](. His meetings with Premier Li Qiang and President Xi Jinping capped off more than a year of efforts to reverse a once-chilly relationship between Canberra and Beijing. The turnaround happened faster than many anticipated. Local elections in five Indian states starting today give Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party and its rivals an opportunity to test out strategies before nationwide polls next year. Modi is counting on a sweep of the three states in the heavily populated north to energize his [campaign for a third term]( as premier next year. A failure by Ukraine’s allies to stand by Kyiv would risk an emboldening of right-wing populist forces across Europe that would help Russian President Vladimir Putin, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said in an interview. He acknowledged that European nations are [showing signs of war fatigue](, particularly with the Israel-Hamas conflict overshadowing Moscow’s invasion. The EU’s executive arm will meet later today to [finalize a decision]( on whether to recommend formally opening Ukraine’s membership talks. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition [agreed to help ease the financial burden]( on regional and local administrations struggling to cope with rising numbers of refugees and other migrants. Peru’s foreign minister resigned after President Dina Boluarte [failed to secure a private meeting]( with President Joe Biden during a trip to Washington last week. Washington Dispatch House Speaker Mike Johnson will meet with fellow Republicans today to help forge a temporary spending proposal to keep the government running — less than two weeks before a shutdown deadline. Johnson and his colleagues worked over the weekend on the legislation, though he has yet to provide specifics. One option would apparently involve two so-called funding cliff dates. Some parts of the government would be kept open through Dec. 7 to allow the House and Senate to work out full-year funding for those agencies. The rest of the agencies would be financed through Jan. 19. The measure would put departments that have aroused animosity among some conservatives, like the Justice Department, on the longer timeline, while agencies that have more widespread support, such as Veterans Affairs, would get the shorter deadline. The Democratic reaction to the Republican stopgap proposal will largely hinge on whether the GOP tries to attach spending cuts or policy provisions to it. The Senate has passed three appropriations bills, but that alone will not avert a Nov. 18 shutdown. One thing to watch today: Off-year elections in Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and Mississippi will give some indication of the nation’s political currents ahead of next year’s election. [Sign up for the Washington Edition newsletter]( for more from the US capital and watch Balance of Power at 5pm ET weekdays on Bloomberg Television. Chart of the Day President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove fuel subsidies has not only pushed up prices of gasoline and electricity — many Nigerians depend on portable generators — it’s also [changed the economics]( of the West African nation’s solar power industry. Researchers at BloombergNEF now believe the country’s on a path to reach 1.6 gigawatts of solar capacity within a year, about triple the previous forecast. And Finally Elon Musk is preparing for the most consequential launch of his career — brain surgery. Musk’s company Neuralink is seeking a volunteer for its first clinical trial, someone willing to have a chunk of their skull removed by a surgeon so a large robot can insert a series of electrodes and [super-thin wires into their cranium](. Then a computer the size of a quarter will be inserted to analyze the person’s brain activity, then relay that information wirelessly to a nearby laptop or tablet. A sheep rigged with the startup’s implant and battery pack. 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