Hamas releases two more hostages

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Hamas has freed two more of the dozens of hostages its militants captured during its assault on Israel, amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to contain the escalating tensions in the Middle East.

The two Israeli women, identified by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office as Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz, were on their way to a medical centre in Israel where they would be met by family members, the office said.

The release follows the freeing of two other female hostages on Friday, bringing the total number of released captives to four. A person in the US familiar with the negotiations said talks were also ongoing for the release of another 50 people.

Israel’s military said yesterday that at least 222 individuals were still being held in captivity in Gaza. Hamas previously claimed that its militants were holding about 200 people, and that there could be as many as 50 others held by other factions in the coastal enclave.

Meanwhile in Lebanon, amid concerns that the Israel-Hamas war will broaden and engulf them, residents are preparing for a worst-case scenario, stocking up on urgent supplies and leaving border towns.

From the southern border with Israel to the capital Beirut, some Lebanese are fleeing abroad or applying for visas to travel to neighbouring Turkey or the United Arab Emirates. Others have driven north to be as far from the Israeli frontier as possible.

Israel and Lebanon-based militant groups have traded fire across the border on a near-daily basis since the assault on Israel by Hamas militants from Gaza on October 7. For now, the cross-border fire has been relatively constrained, but the low-grade exchange has been intensifying. Here’s the latest on the Israel-Hamas war.

• Declaration of unity: Israel’s prime minister, defence minister and army chief insisted there was “unity of purpose” among them as signs of discord grew over the course of the war with Hamas.

• ‘Humanitarian pause’: The EU’s top diplomat called for a pause in hostilities between Israel and Hamas to allow aid deliveries into the Gaza Strip and hostages held there to be released.

• Lessons of 9/11: Israel is in danger of repeating the mistakes of America’s war on terror, but it has much less margin for error, warns Gideon Rachman.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: The UK publishes employment figures; the EU, Germany, France, the US and the UK have purchasing managers’ indices; and the European Central Bank releases its bank lending survey.

• Oil and gas: The International Energy Agency publishes its annual World Energy Outlook.

• Results: Alphabet, Barclays, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Hermès, UniCredit and Visa are among those reporting.

As the Financial Times launches a newsletter on central banking, join Chris Giles and his international colleagues on October 25 1-2pm GMT for a subscriber-exclusive webinar to unpick lessons from central banks’ battle against inflation. Register for your ticket now and send in your questions for the panel.

Five more top stories

1. The European Central Bank is expected to halt the most aggressive series of interest rate rises in its history when policymakers meet in Athens this week. Yet with eurozone inflation running at more than twice its target and the Israel-Hamas conflict pushing up energy prices, ECB president Christine Lagarde is expected to make clear that rates are likely to stay at — or above — their current level for some time.

2. “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks have driven US equity dominance to new heights and propelled all of this year’s gains in the MSCI’s benchmark All-Country World index. Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, Nvidia and Tesla have added almost $4tn in market capitalisation in 2023 compared with $3.4tn in gains for the MSCI index as a whole. Read more on the rising concentration of Big Tech stocks.

3. PwC’s revenue growth lagged behind its Big Four rivals Deloitte and EY in its latest financial year. The accounting and consulting firm brought in record revenues of $53.1bn globally in the year to June 30, representing local currency growth of 11.8 per cent compared with Deloitte and EY’s annual growth of 14.9 per cent and 14.2 per cent, respectively. PwC’s consulting business slowed amid economic uncertainty and a drought of merger and acquisition activity.

4. One year into Rishi Sunak’s premiership, some of the problems facing the UK prime minister and the Conservative party — with the economy, health, immigration and asylum being the most salient issues — remain as intractable as ever. Read more on the Tory leader’s challenges.

5. Gunvor’s chief executive has said he wants to retain control of the business within his family following the breakdown of a potential deal with Abu Dhabi’s state oil group. Talks with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company unravelled in March after disagreements over the size of the deal. Torbjörn Törnqvist told the Financial Times that the company’s growth over the past three years meant a strategic investor was no longer essential.

The Big Read

While its European neighbours are growing, Germany’s economy is stuck in a rut. Its exports and manufacturing output are in decline, inflation is suppressing consumer demand and the construction industry is reeling from high interest rates. Nowhere is this stagnation more evident than in Donnersbergkreis. The once-prosperous industrial district is struggling to adapt to the slow demise of petrol-powered cars and high energy costs.

We’re also reading and listening to . . . 

Chart of the day

London remains the UK black spot for housing affordability, even after a five-year period in which earnings caught up with rent. Data from the Office for National Statistics revealed housing costs accounted for 35 per cent of tenants’ income in the capital in the year to March 2022, making it the only region in the UK with a rent-to-income ratio above 30 per cent. See how the city’s rental prices compare with other regions.

Take a break from the news

Speaking French is not enough. To function in today’s Paris, you also need to know some Parisian — a language that mixes the city’s French linguistic tics with English, Arabic and the backwards slang dialect of verlan. FT Globetrotter offers a crash course in an ever-shifting dialect that expresses the city’s cosmopolitan cool.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and Gordon Smith