Our daily trip around the world

🇮🇱🇵🇸 Israel’s military withdrew yesterday from Jenin, a city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, days after it deployed hundreds of soldiers and launched airstrikes in the area. A total of 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed in the 48-hour military operation. Israeli officials said no non-combatants died, but acknowledged that some of the ~100 wounded Palestinians were civilians. Ahead of yesterday’s withdrawal, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to carry out similar military operations in the West Bank if needed. As the military operation was underway on Tuesday, a Palestinian militant wounded eight Israelis at a Tel Aviv shopping center, in a retaliatory attack claimed by Hamas.

🇨🇳 China is restricting exports of two minerals the US deems critical to the production of semiconductors, solar cells, and missile systems. The minerals – gallium and germanium – will be subject to unspecified export controls starting August 1 to protect China’s national security, Beijing’s Ministry of Commerce said Monday. China currently produces 60% of the world’s germanium and 80% of the world’s gallium – not because the minerals are rare, but because of the relatively high cost to extract them.

🌍🌡️ The world recorded its hottest day ever on Monday… and then again on Tuesday. That’s according to data from the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction and the Climate Reanalyzer project, which go back as far as 1979. Though to be fair, the record average temperatures of 62.6°F and 62.9°F are preliminary, meaning they have yet to be verified by “gold-standard” climate measurement organizations like the NOAA. Experts say the global temperature record will likely be broken many times this summer, as the ongoing El Niño warming effect continues.