RT News - October 30 2023 LATE

Numbers update (official) more than 8,300 Gaza (Palestinians) have been killed, including 3,400 children and more than 18,000 have been wounded since the start of the conflict on 7th October. Communications are being restored slowly but most are out. Day 24

Video includes disturbing footage.

Israel expands/extends it's ground operation. Israeli tanks are firing at vehicles without confirmation of who is inside them. (One instance is shown but many more are reported on social media) IDF has reported on it's ground operation with video

In central Gaza, Türkiye's Freindship cancer treatment hospital has come under attack. It was already suffering from lack of fuel and supplies.

Local reports from Gaza (Mansour Shouman), Mohammed Najib in Ramallah

Videos from Israeli hostages are released by HAMAS

Maria Finoshina reports from the Israel border in Sderot with "birds eye" imagery and commentary of what's going on there (my comment - braver than I would be !)

Sporadic clashes continue at the Lebanon/Israel border, where a guided missile may have been used. Yasin Eken reports.

A French magazine suggests the lives of Israeli and Gazan civilians are not equal.

Mass protests have continued around the world in support of Palestine and demanding a ceasefire.

Yesterday I put in the commentary re: the airport protest "against Jews" in Dagestan. Riot police got called in. It would appear that the whole thing was orchestrated by a group in Ukraine ! Pres. Putin will report on it today (now in fact - I will put a link in the comments). Oumaima Ichchar is at the Makhachala airport where things are back to normal but 8 policemen were injured. Alexandr Stepanov says there are signs this protest was "probably planned well ahead"

Canada's Pres. Trudeau made comments about the airport protest on twitter. Rachel Marsden makes comments about his comments.

Russia's defence minister Shoigu made comments about the west's destabilising the security of the world (see 1, below updates for full report)

Short take: Palestine says the Turkish Friendship Hospital in Gaza has come under attack by Israeli forces, the strikes come as staff struggle to treat the influx of patients amid a dire shortage of fuel and supplies. The death toll in Gaza surpasses 8,000 people as Israel intensifies its ground and air campaigns, with communication outages hampering rescue efforts. Ukraine engineered anti-Israeli riots in Makhachkala airport that left 20 people injured, that's according to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Moscow and Beijing-led multipolar world order is preferable to the West's confrontational approach, that's according to the Russian Defence Minister.
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30 October 2023

16:50 GMT
A female soldier who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 was rescued during a ground operation in Gaza, the IDF has said in a statement. The soldier is named as Col. Uri Magidish, and was found to be in good health by Israeli medics.

Hamas militants took 229 people to Gaza as hostages during their attack on Israel, according to the latest count by the IDF. Four have been released, and Hamas claims that around 50 have been killed in Israeli airstrikes.

16:35 GMT
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said that its warehouses in Gaza City suffered “severe damage” and are out of service due to Israeli strikes targeting the surrounding area. https://twitter.com/PalestineRCS/status/1718984743469887964

16:18 GMT
US forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked 23 times in the last two weeks, a senior Pentagon official told reporters in Washington. Fourteen of these attacks took place in Iraq and nine in Syria, the official said, adding that a mix of drones and rockets had been used. The official did not report any casualties.

Iranian-linked militias have claimed responsibility for most of the attacks, with one such group, the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, declaring on Thursday that it is willing to fight “a war of attrition against the enemy that will extend for years,” according to a report by Lebanon’s Al-Mayadeen news network.

10:41 GMT
Israel’s ground forces are “directly engaging” Hamas militants in Gaza, IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari has said at a media briefing. “Ground forces, tanks, infantry, and armoured forces are manoeuvring towards terrorists,” Hagari stated, adding that the military had eliminated dozens of Hamas fighters who had “barricaded themselves in buildings and attempted to attack the forces that were moving in their direction.”

08:38 GMT
Israeli tanks have been spotted on the edge of Gaza city amid the country’s “expanded” operation in the enclave, AFP News agency reported, citing an eyewitness. Israel’s military also reportedly managed to cut off a key road to the city.

05:59 GMT
Hamas is disappointed at the lack of support from the Arab community in the region, Mousa Abu Marzouk, a member of the group's political bureau, told Al Jazeera. He specifically blasted what he called the “shameful position of our brothers in the Palestinian Authority,” referring to the de jure government of Palestine in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority is dominated by Fatah party and enjoys international recognition. It also used to control Gaza until its conflict with Hamas in 2006.

The official also suggested, citing unnamed “foreigners,” that some members of Palestinian Authority and some Arab countries “were secretly calling on the West to eliminate” Hamas.

However, Fatah denounced Marzouk’s statement, with its spokesman suggesting that the official “speaks from an ivory tower.” He stressed that Fatah continues to support “the forces and heroes of our people in their legitimate human resistance in the battle for liberation and defeating the [Israeli] occupation.”

He added, however, that “we call on our brothers in the Hamas movement to form a purely Palestinian front under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of our Palestinian people.”

04:34 GMT
A 31-year-old Israeli soldier was killed, and two reservists seriously injured after a “tank overturned” in northern Israel on Sunday, the IDF said, without providing any further details of the incident.

03:37 GMT
The United Nations humanitarian organization OCHA said that 33 trucks carrying water, food and medical supplies were allowed to enter Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Sunday.

“This is the largest delivery of humanitarian aid since 21 October, when limited deliveries resumed,” OCHA said in an update on the situation early Monday.

Prior to the blockade, some 500 trucks carrying aid and other goods entered Gaza daily, according to AP, but since Israel launched its war against Hamas, only 117 trucks were allowed into the Palestinian enclave of some 2.3 million residents.

01:45 GMT
The chief of Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, has warned the country’s war cabinet and security officials about a possible “eruption” of hostilities in the West Bank, according to Israeli media.

“The specific warning notes a rise in violence by settlers [and] incidents between settlers and Palestinians that result in the deaths of Palestinians… These incidents are likely to set the area alight,” the Times of Israel reported Israel’s Channel 12 as saying.

00:59
Newly elected US House Speaker Mike Johnson has revealed that lawmakers will vote this week on a more “pressing and urgent” issue of helping to defend Israel in its war with Hamas, separately from any new funding for Kiev which will be put on the backburner for the time being

We’re going to move a stand-alone Israel funding bill this week in the House,” Johnson said on Sunday in a Fox News interview. “We believe that that is a pressing and urgent need… There are lots of things going on around the world that we have to address, and we will, but right now, what’s happening in Israel takes the immediate attention, and I think we have got to separate that and get it through.”

00:13 GMT
There have been a string of anti-Jewish incidents in Russia’s southern Muslim-majority regions, since the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas began, earlier this month.

Media sources in Moscow believe the unrest has been encouraged by Ukraine-based Telegram channels running information war operations.

The latest major flashpoint took place on Sunday, when hundreds of anti-Jewish protesters breached the international airport of Makhachkala, the capital of the Republic of Dagestan. (see yesterday night's post on this channel's write up)
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29 October 2023

23:58 GMT
The IDF has released a video of its latest strike against "military infrastructure in Syrian territory," which allegedly targeted a launch site following a missile attack on Israel on Sunday night. https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1718772729640268123

23:36 GMT
US ally Jordan has asked Washington to deploy additional missile defense systems in the country, amid concerns that the Israel-Gaza war could spill over into the wider Middle East.

“We asked the American side to help bolster our defences with Patriot air defence missile systems,” Brigadier General Mustafa Hiyari, Jordan's army spokesperson, told state television, according to Reuters.

21:47 GMT
Israeli warplanes have carried out a series of strikes against Hezbollah targets Lebanon, “in response to launches towards the territory of the State of Israel earlier today,” the IDF said, sharing a video of the raid. https://twitter.com/idfonline/status/1718724734752272569

The Israeli military also claimed “a number of launches from Syrian territory” towards Israel territory “fell in an open area,” prompting IDF to “respond by firing at the sources of the shooting.”

21:29 GMT
In a phone conversation with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden emphasized the need to “immediately and significantly increase the flow of humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza,” according to a White House readout of the call on Sunday.

While reiterating that “Israel has every right and responsibility to defend its citizens from terrorists,” Biden emphasized that it should be done “in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law that prioritizes the protection of civilians.”

The leaders also discussed “ongoing efforts to locate and secure the release of hostages, to include American citizens who remain unaccounted for and may be held by Hamas.”

19:46 GMT
US President Joe Biden and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, held a phone call to discuss “the significant acceleration and increase of assistance flowing into Gaza,” according to the American readout of the call. While Biden has pledged to support Israel’s military operation, he also held a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday urging him to “immediately and significantly increase” the amount of aid allowed into Gaza.

Israeli officials said that they allowed a convoy of aid and food to enter the enclave from Egypt on Sunday, although the UN’s aid agency in Gaza has warned that much more is needed after “thousands” of rioters broke into one of its food warehouses earlier in the day to steal “wheat flour and other basic survival items like hygiene supplies.”
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1) 30 Oct, 2023 10:23

Western arrogance, Asia tensions, nuclear threat: Key warnings from Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu in Beijing speech

Moscow’s top military official is taking part in the Xiangshan regional security conference

The US and its allies are deliberately eroding global security and risking a nuclear war as they seek to defend their hegemony, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Monday.

Russia and China, meanwhile, are demonstrating a model of cooperation based on equality and agreement not to enhance their own national security at the expense of other nations, he told a regional security forum in Beijing.

Below is a recap of the key points of Shoigu’s speech at the 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum.

‘Neocolonial diktat’
“Modern cataclysms in international relations are directly linked to the resistance of certain nations to the inevitable strengthening of a multipolar world [and] their attempts to preserve their hegemony,” Shoigu said in his address.

Western nations put “hard pressure” on those who stand up to their “neocolonial diktat,” up to and including military actions and attempts to strangle their adversaries with economic sanctions.

Moscow experienced this firsthand after it confronted the US over the expansion of NATO in Europe, which was done “in disregard of Russia’s legitimate right to ensure its security.”

Ukrainians are being sacrificed
The West has unleashed a “hybrid war” against Russia, Shoigu stressed, and has “cynically” picked Ukraine as a “battering ram” in the conflict. Ukrainians are paying a heavy price for it.

According to the Russian minister, Kiev’s troops have suffered over 90,000 casualties since June 4, the day when it launched its counteroffensive. The Ukrainian army has also lost some 600 tanks and nearly 1,900 armoured vehicles of various types over the same period, he added.

However, “no noticeable tactical successes have been achieved on the battlefield” by Ukraine, Shoigu concluded.

Nuclear threat rising
In its pursuit of a strategic advantage, Washington “has for years deliberately undermined and destroyed the system of international security and strategic stability, including the system of arms control treaties,” Shoigu noted.

The Ukraine conflict may eventually result in direct hostilities between nuclear powers. There are claims in the West that Russia is “reducing the threshold” for use of nuclear weapons, but this is not true, the minister said.

Russia’s nuclear doctrine has not changed. Moscow’s expected move to revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty is simply meant to put it on equal footing with Washington, according to Shoigu.

Russia is prepared to seek to improve the state of affairs through diplomacy, but “unless the West reconsiders its destructive line, which seeks to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, it’s doubtful that fruitful talks in this area are possible.”

Dividing Asia
The US applies the same approach in the Asia-Pacific region, where it seeks to escalate tensions and ensure the security of the blocs and groups under its control at the expense of others, Shoigu claimed.

Washington also undermines existing mechanisms, he added, mentioning the example of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus, a platform that included members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and eight outside powers, including China, Russia and the US.

Moscow opposes attempts by the “pro-Western camp” in the group to “move away from the practical focus of the mechanism and politicize its agenda by imposing secondary issues” such as the purported protection of human rights.

The US has in the past used allegations of human rights violations to justify military action, and may do the same with climate change and natural disasters in the future, the minister added.

Model partnership
Shoigu contrasted the “geopolitical adventurism and egoistic neocolonial actions of the West,” with the partnership that Russia has developed with China, calling it a model of cooperation.

The two nations share a vision of a more just multipolar world, in which national security will be indivisible, he said. Russia wants similar relations with other nations that share the same goal.

“The circle of our friends and like-minded individuals who do not want to be dragged into the confrontational agenda pushed by the collective West is steadily growing,” he said.
https://www.rt.com/russia/586150-shoigu-beijing-xiangshan-forum/

see also https://rumble.com/v3sluj4-russian-defense-minister-shoigu-visits-china.html video of event
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30 Oct, 2023 16:50

EU is Russia’s enemy – Medvedev

Moscow isn’t happy to lose Brussels as a strategic partner but must accept this new reality, the former president has said

Russia and the European Union are now “true enemies” rather than neighbour's, according to former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Writing on social media on Sunday, Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, claimed that Brussels has become obsessed with building “crazy conspiracy theories” and raving about the “complete unpredictability of Russia.”

As a result, the bloc has spent “astronomical sums to maintain its security” but has “lost Russia as a long-term strategic partner. We are not happy about this, but it is a fact,” the former president added.

Medvedev accused the EU of meekly complying with the whims of the US, meaning it has lost the ability to act independently not only globally but even in Europe.

“Almost all EU countries stood at attention in front of the United States and Britain and obediently began to carry out their instructions to support the Nazi Kiev regime. And now any instructions in general,” Medvedev wrote.

He claimed that the EU has brought itself to the brink of “complete degeneration” by deciding to become Russia’s enemy at the instigation of Washington.

At the same time, the former president insisted that the world’s great powers will sooner or later agree on how to coexist in the new geopolitical conditions, and that Washington will have no choice but to deal with Russia, China, and the Global South.

Europe, however, will “soon be gone,” Medvedev predicted, comparing the EU to a “sweet little old woman.”

“She was mercilessly limited in her rights by a fat-faced overseas relative, whom she trusted unreservedly. First he cynically robbed the wealthy old woman, depriving her of many sources of livelihood and sending her millions of poor relatives. Soon, he will simply throw the old woman, who has fallen into insanity, out onto the cold street, mercilessly slamming the door behind her in her own house.”

One of Russia’s closest allies, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, stated last week at a meeting with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto that he wholeheartedly supports the existence and preservation of the EU, and wants it to be “strong, resilient, sovereign, and independent.”

Lukashenko explained that his support did not stem from any particular love for the EU, but because it is one of the pillars, along with Russia, China, the US, and India, that hold up the planet and whose downfall would be “bad for everyone.”
https://www.rt.com/russia/586203-eu-russia-enemy-medvedev/
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