BIDEN’S ISRAEL-HAMAS HANDLING: Only about a third of Americans approve of the Biden administration’s response to the Israel-Hamas war, according to a Pew Research Center poll published today, as Matt reports. Among Republicans, 51 percent disapprove of the administration's response, while 28 percent approve. Democrats are more split, with 44 percent approving, 33 percent disapproving and 22 percent not sure. Overall, it’s an ominous sign for President Joe Biden heading into the election year. Respondents under 30 years old were most critical: Just 19 percent approve of the White House’s response, while 46 percent disapprove. That tracks with an increasingly sympathetic sentiment toward Palestinians among young people. About 1,200 Israelis were killed in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, while some 17,000 Palestinians have been killed and nearly two million driven from their homes due to Israel’s retaliatory attacks. HOSTAGE KILLED: A hostage in Gaza was killed after Hamas foiled an Israeli rescue attempt, also killing several Israeli troops in the fight, the militant group said. In a statement on Telegram, the group said it attacked the Israeli forces after they found out about the rescue operation, per Reuters’ AHMED ELIMAM and DAN WILLIAMS. They said a 25-year-old Israeli soldier named SA'AR BARUCH who they’d been holding captive was killed. A list of hostages released by Israel includes a hostage with a similar age and name. "We are not going to comment on psychological warfare that Hamas continues to wage against the people of Israel," EYLON LEVY, an Israeli government spokesperson, told reporters when asked about the raid. Meanwhile, the United Nations said its humanitarian operation in the Gaza Strip has mostly fallen apart as Israel continues its devastating military operation in the territory, “We do not have a humanitarian operation in southern Gaza that can be called by that name anymore,” MARTIN GRIFFITHS, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told reporters Thursday. “Without places of safety, that plan is in tatters.” MCKENZIE’S RECOMMENDATION: Retired Gen. FRANK McKENZIE, who commanded all U.S. forces in the Middle East for three years during the Trump and Biden presidencies, believes Biden should respond more forcefully to attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, Lara also reports. McKenzie said Iran has taken the lack of a strong U.S. military response to the recent spike in Tehran-backed Houthi attacks on civilian vessels, which pose a threat to U.S. warships, as an invitation to continue its aggressive behavior. “Sometimes you’ve got to throw a pitch,” McKenzie told Lara. “You can’t catch eternally, because eventually the law of averages is going to turn against you, and you’re going to take a significant escalatory event on a ship, and then you’re going to be forced into an even more significant level of response.” The Houthis’ base in Yemen makes them the ideal group to escalate the conflict in the Middle East in hopes of pressuring Israel to end its fighting with Hamas, analysts close to the Iranian government told The New York Times’ FARNAZ FASSIHI, RONEN BERGMAN and ERIC SCHMITT. That assessment tracks with descriptions of a plan by Iran to escalate the conflict by increasing attacks on Israeli and American troops in the region, two Iranians affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps told the Times. A main reason Iran chose the Houthis instead of other militant groups that it supports: “Unlike Hezbollah … the Houthis are not beholden to domestic political dynamics — making them effectively accountable to no one,” the Times writes. RUSSIAN STRIKES: Russia bombarded Kyiv today with cruise missiles for the first time in months, targeting infrastructure facilities, our own VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA reports. A total of seven Russian jets fired 19 cruise missiles at Ukraine from the Saratov region of southwestern Russia, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. Fourteen of the missiles were shot down but some struck targets. PUTIN’S RUNNING: Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN announced today that he’s running for president again next year, declaring his intent to win an election even his own officials have said is more or less a formality, our own GABRIEL GAVIN reports. "That's going to be one humdinger of a horse race, isn't it?" National Security Council spokesperson JOHN KIRBY said today, sarcastically, aboard Air Force Once. DRINKS WITH NATSEC DAILY: At the end of every long, hard week, we like to highlight how a prominent member of Washington’s national security scene prefers to unwind with a drink. Today, we’re featuring KARI BINGEN, the director of the Aerospace Security Project and a senior fellow in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “I’m in the ‘burbs. Love a smooth French Pinot noir in the ‘beer garden’ at Dominion Wine & Beer in Falls Church,” Bingen said, adding that she’s met a handful of defense and intelligence folk there over the years. Cheers, Kari! IT’S FRIDAY. WELCOME TO THE WEEKEND: Thanks for tuning in to NatSec Daily. This space is reserved for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Aim your tips and comments at award@politico.com and mberg@politico.com, and follow us on X at @alexbward and @mattberg33. While you’re at it, follow the rest of POLITICO’s national security team: @nahaltoosi, @PhelimKine, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmcleary, @leehudson, @magmill95, @johnnysaks130, @ErinBanco, @reporterjoe, and @JGedeon1.
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