Our daily voyage around the world

💥 Israel-Hamas war update: Israel’s military yesterday morning carried out what appears to be its biggest incursion into Gaza since the recent war began on October 7, an incident which Israeli officials described as a “targeted raid” aimed at preparing their troops for an eventual invasion of Gaza. Hamas yesterday claimed nearly 50 of the ~220 Israeli hostages captured in the militant group’s surprise attack earlier this month have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, and also released a report including the names and ages of 7,028 Palestinians it identified as having been killed since the war began (though neither figure could be independently verified).

🇨🇷 Costa Rican officials are investigating the largest national bank heist in the country’s history. Staff first noticed ~$6 million missing from the bank’s vaults three weeks ago, but the theft itself most likely occurred in August or even earlier, bank officials revealed at a press conference this week. Costa Rican authorities haven’t released any information about how the heist was executed and no arrests have been made, though the bank suspended five workers over their potential connection to the theft.

​​🇱🇸🇿🇦 A bird flu outbreak in South Africa is threatening local chicken supplies. Lesotho, a country entirely surrounded by South Africa, banned all poultry imports from its neighbor this week due to a recent uptick in bird flu cases reported there. South African farmers have been forced to cull more than 7 million egg-laying hens over the past year – equivalent to between 20%–30% of the country's entire stock – leading to an ongoing shortage of eggs and poultry in the surrounding area.