RT News - October 29 2023 LATE

Updates on the Palestine/Israel conflict as they happened below.

Massive rallies around the world (towards end of video)

Things are heating up on the Lebanon/Israel border. Eunan speak to Simon Tsipis; he says Washington is likely pulling the strings.

Below: Israel strikes near Gaza’s largest hospital
Below: Riot police deployed amid anti-Jewish protest at Russian airport

Short take : Explosions rock Gaza as Israel extends its ground operations and intensifies its bombing campaign. As the Palestinian death toll reportedly tops ten thousand people, Gazans are struggling to survive and find their loved ones amid the devastating consequences of the conflict. Relatives of those held hostage by Hamas meet with the Israeli Prime Minister, saying they fear for the safety of their loved ones who are held in Gaza while it's being attacked by the IDF from above.
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29 October 2023 Updates, "as they happened"

17:11 GMT
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has called on the current government not to commit more troops to a full-scale invasion of Gaza, where Hamas fighters will “exact a heavy blood price from us.”

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Bennett recommended that Israel create a two-kilometre “security strip” around the enclave and maintain a complete blockade on fuel supplies until Hamas surrenders, all while continuing to pound Gaza with airstrikes.

“Hamas leadership will find itself in a dilemma,” Bennett wrote. “If [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar does not disarm he will go down in history as the one who destroyed his country and brought a historical disaster on his people.”

16:37 GMT
The UN’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said that one of its peacekeepers was injured when two mortar shells fell on one of its bases near the Israeli border. Two other UN bases in Lebanon were hit on Saturday.

“Attacking UN peacekeepers is a crime, a violation of international law and must be condemned,” the mission said in a statement, without blaming either Israeli forces or Lebanese Hezbollah militants.

The Israeli military and Hezbollah have exchanged fire daily since Israel’s conflict with Hamas broke out. The IDF published a video on Sunday showing one of its aircraft attacking a “terrorist cell” that it said had been firing missiles into Israeli territory earlier in the day. https://twitter.com/idfonline/status/1718646434675777735

15:18 GMT
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must “rein in…extremist settler violence against innocent people in the West Bank,” US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has told CNN.

At least seven Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli settlers since the conflict with Hamas began on October 7, the Associated Press reported on Sunday. Across multiple terms in office, Netanyahu has overseen a dramatic expansion in the construction of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, which the International Court of Justice deems illegal.

14:52 GMT
Israeli airstrikes destroyed most of the roads leading to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Sunday morning, the Associated Press has reported. The Shifa Hospital is the largest medical facility in the Palestinian enclave.

The IDF claimed on Friday that Hamas had built an elaborate network of tunnels and bunkers under the hospital. Speaking to reporters on Saturday, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari refused to rule out bombing the hospital, declaring that “in this war, all options are on the table.”
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via RT 29 Oct, 2023 15:31

Israel strikes near Gaza’s largest hospital

The IDF previously accused Hamas of operating a command post under the Shifa Hospital

Israeli airstrikes have destroyed roads leading to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza on Sunday, the Associated Press reports. Tens of thousands of civilians are believed to be sheltering on the grounds of the hospital.

Residents of Gaza told the news agency that the strikes destroyed most of the roads leading to the hospital, which is the main medical referral facility serving the Palestinian enclave.

“It seems they want to cut off the area,” a resident told AP, noting that Israel’s airstrikes over the past two days have been “the most violent and intense” since the war began.

The Shifa Hospital is located in Gaza City, in the northern half of the strip. The Israeli authorities have repeatedly instructed residents of the city to evacuate to the south of the enclave to be spared the airstrikes, although Israeli warplanes have bombed this supposedly safe region too, levelling homes in the cities of Rafah and Khan Younis.

Many civilians who stayed behind in Gaza City have taken shelter on the grounds of hospitals, including the Shifa facility. The Associated Press said that “tens of thousands” of people are currently camped out at the Shifa complex, which is also struggling to treat the high volume of patients inside.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) claimed on Friday that the Shifa Hospital is “the main headquarters for Hamas’ terrorist activity,” and that the militant group has constructed an elaborate network of tunnels and bunkers under the building. The IDF released a computer-animated video supposedly showing the layout of these tunnels, and published a video clip in which an interrogated Hamas fighter admits to the existence of the base. It is unclear, however, whether the militant was speaking under duress.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari refused to rule out bombing the hospital, declaring that “in this war, all options are on the table.” https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1718010359397634252

Israel has also threatened to bomb the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement on Sunday morning. The organization said that Israeli forces ordered the “immediate evacuation” of the hospital “as it is going to be bombarded.” Palestinian news agency WAFA said shortly afterwards that hospital management refused to comply with the evacuation order.

The IDF refused to comment on either the evacuation order or the strikes near the Shifa Hospital when asked by AP.

Israel dramatically stepped up its air campaign against Gaza on Friday night, severing the enclave’s last phone and internet links with the outside world. The IDF followed the bombardment by deploying tanks and infantry to the strip, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a “second stage” in the war against Hamas.

More than 8,000 Palestinians, including 3,342 children, have been killed in Gaza since Israel’s air campaign began, according to the latest figures from the Gaza Health Ministry. Hamas’ rocket strikes and raids on Israeli territory earlier this month killed around 1,400 people, according to the IDF.
https://www.rt.com/news/586113-israel-airstrike-gaza-hospital/
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29 Oct, 2023 18:16

Via RT : Riot police deployed amid anti-Jewish protest at Russian airport

The unrest was reportedly prompted by rumours that had spread online of incoming “Jewish refugees”

A large crowd of angry protesters gathered at the airport in Makhachkala, the capital city of Russia’s Dagestan Republic, on Sunday searching for alleged “Jewish refugees” there. The unrest prompted the deployment to the scene of law enforcement teams in riot gear.

The crowd breached the airport’s premises and even made it on to the runway, disrupting the airport's operation, footage from the scene circulating online shows. https://t.me/izvestia

The crowds were filmed ‘questioning’ random people at the airport’s terminal to determine whether or not they were Jewish, and also approached just-landed planes with the apparent intent of entering the aircraft.

The unrest at the airport was apparently prompted by rumours spread on local social media channels claiming that a flight from Tel Aviv inbound for Makhachkala was carrying a group of “Jewish refugees,” purportedly fleeing the conflict between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel.
https://www.rt.com/russia/586123-dagestan-airport-riot-police/
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