Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told President Biden yesterday that Israel has no choice but to unleash a ground operation in Gaza, Axios' Barak Ravid writes.

• "We have to go in. We can't negotiate now," the Israeli leader said.

Why it matters: Netanyahu's message to Biden signals what his country's response to the Hamas attack will look like in the days and weeks ahead.

During his call with Netanyahu, Biden raised the issue of Israeli hostages in Gaza, according to three Israeli and U.S. sources briefed on the call.

• Netanyahu told Biden that Israel had to respond with force because a country can't show weakness in the Middle East.

"We need to restore deterrence," Netanyahu told Biden, according to the three sources.

• Biden didn't try to press Netanyahu or convince him not to go through with a ground operation.

🖼️ The big picture: Netanyahu told Biden a front on the Lebanese border is also a concern and that Israel is preparing for this scenario, the sources said.

• The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired three rockets toward an Israeli military outpost on the northern border yesterday.
• Today, the IDF killed several gunmen who had tried to infiltrate Israel through its border with Lebanon.

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Amazon — and the retailers chasing the e-commerce behemoth — are making the seasonal switch to holiday deals earlier and earlier, Axios' Kelly Tyko writes.

• Why it matters: Halloween is weeks away — and Black Friday doesn't come for another month and a half.

Amazon's decision to hold another Prime Day-like sale in October upends the traditional shopping calendar and pushes retailers to start offering deals early, GlobalData's Neil Saunders said.

• Walmart, Best Buy and Kohl's are among the retailers entering the Amazon-driven holiday fray this week.

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1. 🏅 Harvard's Claudia Goldin became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Economics solo. Her research illuminated the structural differences that create pay and employment gaps between men and women, Axios' Emily Peck and Ivana Saric write.
2. 🗳️ Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped his Democratic primary bid and will instead run as an independent in 2024, Axios' Ivana Saric and Jacob Knutson write. [Corrects date]
3. 🏈 Flag football is set to become an Olympic sport at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. [Corrects date] Go deeper.

Major League Baseball bet that a series of rule changes this season would bring down the length of games and make the sport more exciting.

• It paid off.

The average time of a nine-inning game fell to just under 2:40 — 24 minutes less than last season and the shortest since 1985.

• The changes drove a spike in batting average and the most stolen bases in nearly 40 years, AP reports.

Go deeper: Attendance up, game time down (MLB.com) ... More on the rule changes.