WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Israeli troops withdraw, Reform UK grows, and Denmark-Greenland tensions

 
today's international story

Israel withdraws from key Gaza corridor

What happened
Israel completed its withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor, a militarised zone that splits Gaza in half. The pull-back is in line with the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement of 19 January.

Who said what
Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif al-Qanoua said the withdrawal showed it had "forced the enemy to submit to our demands" and that it punctured the Israeli government's “illusion of achieving total victory”.

Hundreds of Palestinians have begun returning to northern Gaza, "often to scenes of utter destruction", said the BBC. Mahmoud al-Sarhi, a displaced Palestinian who returned to his home in Zeitun, told AFP that "the entire area is in ruins ... I cannot live here".

What next?
The Israeli military’s departure from the Netzarim Corridor came as Hamas freed three hostages in Gaza and Israel released 183 prisoners and detainees. The "gaunt appearances" of the three Israeli hostages who were released stoked "public comparisons to Holocaust victims", said The New York Times, and "heaped new pressure on the negotiations".

"Little progress" has been made on the second phase of the ceasefire so far, according to The Guardian. Efforts to secure an extension to the deal "have been hindered by deep mutual distrust" and, more recently, Donald Trump's "wildly inflammatory" proposal that the US take control of the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli delegation arrived in Qatar yesterday to begin the next round of indirect talks with Hamas.

 
 
today's politics story

Former Tories urge collaboration with Reform

What happened
The Conservatives must work with Reform UK to avoid a wipe-out at the May local elections, former Cabinet ministers Brandon Lewis and Esther McVey have warned.

Who said what
"If we want to defeat Labour then the Right has to find a way to come together, and the same logic applies to the locals," Lewis, a former Tory chairman and Northern Ireland secretary, told The Telegraph.

According to McVey, the former work and pensions secretary, "if you go issue by issue between the Reform MPs and most Conservative MPs, you wouldn't really see much difference between them".

What next?
Kemi Badenoch has previously ruled out working with Reform UK, but she "faces the challenge of a creaking, diminished and disheartened party machine, with Reform UK now boasting more members".

The populist party claims to have a "whopping" 200,000 members, said GB News. The Conservative Party, meanwhile, has slightly more than 130,000 members. Reform leader Nigel Farage said he was now aiming to eclipse the Labour Party's tally of 309,000 members.

 
 
Today's religion story

Church of England bans non-alcoholic wine from services

What happened
The Church of England ruled out using non-alcoholic wine and gluten-free bread during holy communion.

Who said what
Ahead of the meeting of the General Synod in London this week, Rev Canon Alice Kemp had asked church leaders to consider non-alcoholic and wheat-free options for the Eucharist ritual, which symbolises Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, and commemorates the Last Supper.

Church leaders acknowledged the "injustice" faced by those unable to consume wheat flour or alcohol, but said changing the rules would overturn two settled positions in the Church of England – what comprises bread and wine for holy communion.

It said using wine free from alcohol would "nullify" the results of fermentation and that alternative wafers could not be considered "bread" because of the lack of wheat.

What next?
The synod said the current rules made enough accommodation for people suffering from alcoholism or coeliac disease because worshippers could choose to have a blessing instead.

 
 

It's not all bad

No one blends sport with entertainment quite like the US, and this year's Super Bowl was no exception. As well as featuring a spectacular halftime show by Kendrick Lamar, the event also saw Hollywood stars Jon Hamm and Bradley Cooper introduce the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles respectively. Tom Cruise then "pumped up" the crowd during Fox's pre-game show, said Variety. Appearances by singer Jon Batiste, live-action Disney characters and a very patriotic Brad Pitt speech made for a spectacle that overshadowed not only the one-sided game, but possibly also the attendance of Fan-in-Chief Donald Trump.

 
 
under the radar

'Racism' fuels Denmark-Greenland tensions

With Donald Trump's vow to take charge of Greenland putting the status of the autonomous Danish territory in the spotlight, a controversial parenting test has become emblematic of the tensions between Denmark and indigenous Greenlanders.

For years campaigners have spoken out against "parenting competency" tests – forældrekompetenceundersøgelse in Danish, commonly shortened to FKU –  used in Denmark by child protection services. They argue that the test discriminates against parents from Denmark's Greenlandic Inuit minority, which currently numbers about 17,000, because it fails to account for different cultural and social norms.

The Danish government has said it will no longer use the FKU in cases involving Greenlandic families, but the memories of recent high-profile cases of Inuit mothers being separated from their children will take a long time to fade.

The government's announcement marks a "significant U-turn" in policy, said The Guardian. But some have "questioned the timing", coming so soon after Trump's declaration that acquiring Greenland would be an "absolute necessity" for the US.

Aka Hansen, an Inuit film-maker who has led protests against the FKU, told the newspaper that the abolition of the test was "long overdue". "It's a big surprise to us that all of a sudden they are able to make changes to the law."

Greenland's Prime Minister Múte Egede said this month that the territory had "had enough" of being told it should be grateful to Copenhagen for being "good colonial masters". If Denmark had treated Greenlanders better historically, he added, perhaps they would not be debating the island's future.

 
 
on this day

10 February 1355

On St Scholastica's Day, a dispute erupted at Oxford University when students argued with the landlord of the Swindlestock Tavern over the quality of the wine they were served. The disagreement rapidly escalated into a violent, two-day riot that left approximately 63 students and more than 30 townspeople dead.

 
 
Today's newspapers

A second Labour MP has been "unmasked" in a "vile" WhatsApp group, says the Daily Mail, reporting that Burnley MP Oliver Ryan was "another leading member" of the group that sacked health minister Andrew Gwynne was in. Labour will set out a new migration plan in the next few weeks to "tackle" the Farage "election threat", says The i Paper. Meanwhile, The Mirror tells readers: "Your pub needs you" for its campaign to save our "cherished boozers".

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Little white coat lie

A child was arrested for impersonating a doctor after turning up to a hospital in Plymouth "wearing scrubs and with a fake ID", said The Manchester Evening News. The 13-year-old boy was apprehended by police after a security guard raised concerns. The boy was de-arrested and "dealt with by way of words of advice" following the incident, said police, who added that no further action would be taken.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Sorcha Bradley, Harriet Marsden, Ross Couzens, and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Majdi Fathi / NurPhoto / Getty Images; Finnbarr Webster / Getty Images; Avalon_Studio / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images.