Dozens of people, mostly women and children, have been injured and killed in Israeli airstrikes on evacuation convoys fleeing Gaza City, according to Hamas officials. The IDF has yet to respond to the accusations, after ordering more than 1 million people to leave the northern part of the enclave “to save their lives.”
The UN humanitarian body, OCHA, said several “vehicles of those evacuating the north were hit, killing more than 40 people and injuring 150 others,” citing data from health officials in the Hamas-governed Palestinian enclave.
“These incidents prompted many people to abandon their evacuation efforts and return home,” the UN agency added, as “heavy Israeli bombardments, from the air, sea and land, have continued almost uninterrupted.”
Hamas’ media office claimed on Friday that airstrikes hit civilian cars in three separate locations, allegedly killing 70 people. The Palestinian Health Ministry said that Al-Shifa Medical Complex was treating “dozens of victims” injured “as a result of the Israeli occupation forces targeting citizens who were forced to leave their homes.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has yet to comment on the allegations, and it is unclear whether militants were among the passengers of the convoys.
Dozens of people, mostly women and children, have been injured and killed in Israeli airstrikes on evacuation convoys fleeing Gaza City, according to Hamas officials. The IDF has yet to respond to the accusations, after ordering more than 1 million people to leave the northern part of the enclave “to save their lives.”
The UN humanitarian body, OCHA, said several “vehicles of those evacuating the north were hit, killing more than 40 people and injuring 150 others,” citing data from health officials in the Hamas-governed Palestinian enclave.
“These incidents prompted many people to abandon their evacuation efforts and return home,” the UN agency added, as “heavy Israeli bombardments, from the air, sea and land, have continued almost uninterrupted.”
Hamas’ media office claimed on Friday that airstrikes hit civilian cars in three separate locations, allegedly killing 70 people. The Palestinian Health Ministry said that Al-Shifa Medical Complex was treating “dozens of victims” injured “as a result of the Israeli occupation forces targeting citizens who were forced to leave their homes.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has yet to comment on the allegations, and it is unclear whether militants were among the passengers of the convoys.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians have fled south after Israel issued an order on Thursday night, initially giving Gaza residents 24 hours to evacuate from the north to “save their lives” ahead of an expected ground offensive, according to the UN. Prior to the evacuation order, more than 400,000 Palestinians had already been internally displaced.
The IDF called the evacuation order a “humanitarian step,” claiming that the residents would be able to return to Gaza City after Hamas militants were eradicated. The military did not mention any specific deadline, with a spokesperson acknowledging the evacuation would take “some time.”
Israel has faced widespread criticism from human rights organizations for the forced relocation order, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urging West Jerusalem to reconsider it, insisting that “even wars have rules” and telling all sides to respect international humanitarian norms.
“Moving more than 1 million people across a densely populated warzone to a place with no food, water, or accommodation when the entire territory is under siege, is extremely dangerous and, in some cases, simply not possible,” Guterres said on X (formerly Twitter) early Saturday morning.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also appealed to Israel to “immediately rescind orders for the evacuation of over 1 million people living north of Wadi Gaza,” saying that a “mass evacuation would be disastrous – for patients, health workers and other civilians left behind or caught in the mass movement.”
“With ongoing airstrikes and closed borders, civilians have no safe place to go,” the WHO said on Friday.
The Middle East is on the brink of a full-scale war, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya warned.
"The region is on the brink of a full scale war and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe," he told reporters following a closed-door UN Security Council meeting on the current escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"Let me be clear: the responsibility for the looming war in the Middle East, to a large extent, lies on the United States," he told.
"We shouldn't ignore that the current flare-up of violence happens against the background with real systematic violations of the decisions of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, including the illegal expansion of settlements, which is regularly condemned by the vast majority of UN member states," he said.
Nebenzya added that Russia unequivocally condemned "extreme brutality, killings and the horrifying scale of violence." "Any killings and violence against peaceful civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian citizens, is inadmissible," the Russian envoy stressed.
Russia urges UNSC to call for immediate ceasefire in Middle East
Moscow suggests that the UN Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East, according to a Russia-proposed resolution.
The document says that it is possible to ensure a long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict only through peaceful means. Russia called for an immediate and long-term ceasefire that all parties would respect.
A Russia-proposed United Nations Security Resolution made available to TASS calls for an immediate release of hostages.
According to the document, the UN Security Council "strongly condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism.".
The document calls "for the unimpeded provision and distribution of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment, as well as creating conditions for the safe evacuation of civilians in need.".
Tensions in the Middle East flared up again after Hamas militants infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7. The Palestinian movement described its attack as a response to the actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem's Temple Mount.
Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank. Over 1,900 Palestinians have been killed and about 7,700 have suffered wounds; in Israel, the death toll stands at about 1,500 and nearly 4,000 people have been wounded.
Saudi Arabia shelves Israel peace deal – Reuters
Saudi Arabia has suspended plans to normalize relations with Israel amid the latter’s ongoing war with Palestinian Hamas militants, Reuters reported on Friday. Backed by the US, the deal would have been a diplomatic coup for Washington and a strategic blow to Iran.
Prior to Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Saturday, Saudi Arabia and Israel were drawing close to a deal that would have seen the Sunni kingdom recognize the Jewish state, with Saudi Arabia gaining a defense pact with the US and more advanced American weapons in exchange, although the White House stressed that the precise terms had yet to be worked out.
With Israeli warplanes continually bombing Gaza since Saturday and an invasion of the Palestinian enclave reportedly imminent, Saudi officials paused the deal to avoid setting off a wave of anger across the Muslim world, Reuters reported, citing two sources close to Riyadh.
The sources stressed that the deal is not permanently scrapped, but that Riyadh will likely require any future agreement to include significant concessions to the Palestinians from the Israeli side.
Nearly 2,000 people, including 583 children, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, according to the latest figures from the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 1,300 Israelis have died since Saturday, and more than 100 are believed to be in Hamas captivity in Gaza.
Israel’s heavy-handed response, including its imposition of a total siege on Gaza, has brought the country’s Muslim neighbors closer together. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi spoke by phone on Wednesday, their first conversation since the two geopolitical rivals re-established diplomatic ties in a Chinese-brokered deal in March.
Iranian state media said that the pair discussed the "need to end war crimes against Palestine," while Saudi state media said that the prince promised to make “all possible efforts…to stop the ongoing escalation.”
Iran bitterly opposed the planned normalization deal, which would have seen its two primary regional opponents drawn closer together, with one entering a formal alliance with the US. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has also warned the entire Arab world against normalizing relations with the “Zionist regime” in Israel.
Less than a week before Hamas’ attack, Khamenei called Israel a “cancer” that will “God willing, be eradicated by the hands of the Palestinian people and the resistance forces throughout the region.”
Russian forces fighting in the proxy war against NATO in Ukraine are used to seeing, hearing from and being fired at by foreign mercs, and coming into contact with alliance weaponry ranging from small arms to heavy battle tanks. But once in a blue moon, the ‘surprises’ they receive from Kiev's Western sponsors are of a more pleasant variety.
Russian Spetsnaz troops in the ruins of the liberated city of Artemovsk (Bakhmut) have decided to show off the diverse range of foods sent to Ukraine by NATO countries.
Footage shows soldiers in a makeshift storage facility filled with “mountains of food” left by Ukrainian forces during their retreat from the city, including vast stocks of baked beans from Turkiye, Starbucks coffee, Italian canned pork, rice packaged in Poland and even British chicken broth.
“We’ve been coming here for six months, like to a supermarket. Thank you to the Europeans, the Poles, the Dutch, the Germans, the Italians…Guys, keep up the good work! You provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with tasty food,” the soldier behind the camera quipped.
The US and its allies have sent close to $175 billion in military, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, including thousands of tons of military field rations and other food that can be stored over long periods and doesn't require much work to prepare.
It's unclear how long this 'Manna from Heaven' will continue, however, with Biden White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby warning this week that the US aid won't be "indefinite," and that Washington is "coming near to the end of the rope" as it shifts its focus to Israel.
Ukrainian Military Casualties Reach Nearly 1,600 in Donetsk in Past Week
The Russian forces repelled 17 attacks in the Donetsk direction in the past week, where the Ukrainian troops lost nearly 1,600 soldiers as killed and injured, the Russian Defense Ministry stated on Friday.
“Over the past week, in this direction, the enemy lost more than 1,580 military personnel as killed and wounded, four tanks, 30 armored combat vehicles, 22 cars, 14 field artillery guns, as well as a Grad MLRS combat vehicle,” the ministry reported.
The Russian forces also repelled eight attacks in the South Donetsk direction in the past seven days, where Kiev lost over 1,285 soldiers as killed in injured. In the Zaporozhye direction, the Russian troops repelled four attacks, in which Ukraine lost over 385 soldiers.
In the Kupyansk direction, the Russian forces repelled 46 Ukrainian attacks in the past week, and Kiev lost over 830 soldiers as killed or injured. Moreover, 22 attacks have been repelled in the Krasny Liman direction, where Ukraine’s military casualties reached over 895.
Israel has compared Saturday's breakout from the besieged Gaza Strip by Hamas and other groups, which has left 1,300 civilians and soldiers dead, to the Nazi genocide of millions of Jews and others. Western allies have pledged full backing for Israel's military offensive.
The UK has joined the US in sending naval forces to back Israel following the latest escalation of its conflict in the occupied Palestinian territories — but will other NATO members follow suit?
British Response
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Thursday that he had ordered to Royal Navy amphibious warfare ships to sail for the eastern Mediterranean, along with Royal Air Force (RAF) P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft "to deliver practical support to Israel and partners in the region, and offer deterrence and assurance."
The vessels are the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Argus, a Littoral Strike Ship fitted out with a 100-bed medical complex to receive casualties, and the RFA Lyme Bay, an amphibious assault ship.
The ships are reportedly carrying a detachment of Royal Marine Commandos and three Merlin medium-lift transport helicopters — strongly suggesting planning for an operation to rescue some of the British citizens believed to have been taken hostage in the coastal enclave of Gaza.
"Alongside our allies, the deployment of our world-class military will support efforts to ensure regional stability and prevent further escalation," Sunak said. "Our military and diplomatic teams across the region will also support international partners to re-establish security and ensure humanitarian aid reaches the thousands of innocent victims of this barbaric attack from Hamas terrorists."
The move contradicted assurances by Sunak's spokesman earlier in the week that there were "no plans to redeploy UK military assets to Israel."
US Deployment
The British move follows the US deployment of a the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier and its supporting battlegroup, along with other military units to the Mediterranean and Middle East to threaten Hamas' allies Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Two US Air Force B-1B strategic bombers redeployed to RAF Fairford in the south-west of England on Thursday, with another pair expected to arrive on Saturday.
Germany
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Defence Minister Boris Pistorius also offered military aid to Israel on Thursday.
Two Israeli-made IAI Eitan armed drones — designated Heron TP for export — sold to the Bundeswehr armed forces will be lent back to Israel for use in the conflict. German personnel were already in Israel, training to use the systems.
"There is only one place for Germany — that place is at Israel’s side," Scholz told the Buundestag parliament on Thursday morning, adding that his government would "immediately examine and also grant" any further requests from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Israel’s security is Germany’s national interest," Scholz declared.
Speaking during a visit to the Belgian capital Brussels, some to the NATO headquarters, Pistorius said the German government would also consider an Israeli request for ammunition for its naval fleet.
The chancellor also warned Hezbollah, the Lebanese Islamic resistance movement that saw off Israel's 2006 invasion of its northern neighbour, against opening a sceond front.
"Hezbollah must not intervene in the fighting," Scholz said. "There would then be the threat of a devastating conflagration — with possible repercussions as far as north Africa and Yemen. Together with our partners, we are using all channels to prevent such an apocalyptic scenario."
Gaza War as Indicator of West's Crumbling Dominance
The Gaza crisis serves as a reflection of the crumbling unipolar rules as the world is embracing multipolarity and seeking new approaches to simmering conflicts.
Neither Israeli nor American intelligence seemed to be aware about the preparations for Hamas' surprise assault on Israel last Saturday.
"The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades," US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan claimed at the Atlantiс Festival on September 29, suggesting that Washington could now shift its focus on the Ukraine conflict and containing China's rise in the Asia Pacific.
As it turned out later, the night before the Hamas attack the Israeli intelligence agencies spotted signs of irregular militant activity in Gaza but IDF and Shin Bet's top brass decided not to put the Israeli military patrolling the border on high alert, according to the US press. Apparently, the Israeli security leadership also believed that the situation was largely under control.
The Hamas brutal rocket strike and sudden infiltration of Hamas militants in Israel's territories where the group met little if any resistance became a wake-up call for both Washington and Tel Aviv.
However, the erupted conflict is the result of a string of mistakes made by the international community and the US, in particular, during its unipolar moment, according to Alexander Asafov, political scientist, member of the Russian Association of Political Consultants.
"It was [the US] who sowed the seeds of these mistakes, which have led to these smoldering conflicts," Asafov told Sputnik. "And, of course, we see a clear manifestation. [The current crisis] in the Middle East, this is the result of just such a conflict. After all, it was [US President Donald] Trump who moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem. The Americans did a lot of things to prevent pacification in this area, not to mention the implementation of the 1947 UN Security Council decision on the creation of an Arab state in Palestine. Therefore, of course, this is a clear manifestation of the fact that there is no longer any Pax Americana, no unipolar world. And now the world is entering a new transition period, towards multipolarity, including through pain, blood and awakening conflicts."
According to Asafov, the US and its Western allies did not seek ways to resolve the contradictions once and for all: they capitalized on festering wounds of local crises in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and elsewhere.
"The world's hegemon [the US] has kept many conflicts smoldering through manipulation, forceful pressure and various other tools that they call 'soft' or 'smart' power," the political scientist continued. "And [Washington] did this deliberately, because it helped both earn money and, among other things, ensure a certain influence and control through dormant conflicts."
The bombing and fragmentation of Yugoslavia, the invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria by the US and its NATO allies led to rewriting maps, dragging countries into chaos and looting their national wealth. However, the US' Iraqi war created a power vacuum leading to the emergence of Daesh (ISIS/ISIL)* and other Islamist groups, while the Washington-backed Afghanistan government collapsed in just hours after the Taliban takeover of Kabul.
Likewise, the US administration's manipulation of the Israeli-Palestinian issue led to unintended consequences in the Gaza Strip, which dealt a third blow to the Biden administration after the botched Afghanistan withdrawal and the failed Ukrainian counteroffensive.
"The Palestinian question is unresolved and, as recent events demonstrate, it is still smoldering," noted Dr. Marco Marsili, associate fellow at the Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis, who holds research positions in major civil and military institutions in Portugal, the UK and Italy.
Earlier, Sputnik's interlocutors warned that the US and UK's naval deployments near the region could fan the flames of the crisis even further instead of calming it down since Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah might consider the Western military buildup as a provocation and a direct threat.
Per Asafov, old rules of show of force and intimidation don't work, and international players need to tread carefully to avoid bigger conflicts. Thus, the irresponsible militarization of Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel will make the world less safe and more turbulent.
"The fact is that only this way they could show that their old rules, bloc rules – not civilizational ones based on values, but colonial rules based on financial gain, and pumping out resources from other countries – still work and can defend themselves. This could only be demonstrated in this way. This is what they do," said the political scientist.
However, these colonial rules no longer work, per the academic, meaning that global and regional players would have to sit at the negotiating table as equals and find the solutions to the urgent crisis including the unfolding conflict in the Gaza strip.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has encouraged reporters to read the American media less. The remark came during a press conference in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek in response to a question about reports that the Russian Kant air base in Kyrgyzstan had been abandoned due to the conflict in Ukraine.
“American media outlets are saying that all the equipment is in Ukraine, and that the [Kant] base is deserted,” claimed an Izvestia journalist at the press conference. He did not specify which US outlets had made such claims.
“You are reading the American media in vain,” Putin told the reporter who had asked the question. “First, they very often distort reality – just listen to the former president of the United States. Listen to him, he will give you a good description of the current level of development of the American media,” the president said, apparently referring to Donald Trump and adding that American media will “teach you bad things.”
Putin insisted that the Kant military base remains active and continues to act as a “deterrent factor for various extremists.” He added that there is also an active aviation unit there which includes combat aircraft and helicopters.
“They are at Kant, on combat duty and service,” Putin said.
On Thursday, the Russian leader, together with his Kyrgyz counterpart Sadyr Japarov, took part in a ceremony dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Kant base.
During the ceremony, Putin declared that Russia will continue to provide the base with the most modern weapons and promised to solve all the issues that the military personnel serving at the base may have.
The Russian president’s visit to Kyrgyzstan marks the first time he has traveled abroad since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him earlier this year. Next week, Putin is expected to travel to China to meet with President Xi Jinping during the international Belt and Road forum.
Putin comments on Ukrainian weapons in Hamas hands
That some of the weapons sent to Ukraine ended up in the hands of Hamas militants probably has more to do with corruption than deliberate deliveries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
“I doubt that there were deliveries of weapons from Ukraine, but I have no doubt there were leaks of weapons from Ukraine,” Putin explained at a press conference in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek.
“We know the level of corruption in Ukraine is very high. The black market arises when there are many who want to buy, and in Ukraine there are many who want to sell,” he added, noting that Ukrainians were “definitely selling” weapons on the international market through countries in Africa and the Middle East.
“Why, they even sell [weapons] to Russia, and if they can sell them to Russia, nothing surprises me anymore,” the Russian president said.
The issue of Hamas using weapons the US and its allies had sent to Ukraine was first raised by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who claimed such equipment was “being actively used in Israel.” Kiev’s military intelligence responded by accusing Russia of sending Western weapons captured in Ukraine to Hamas in a “false flag” operation designed to make Kiev look bad to its backers.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied Medvedev’s weapons claim, but rejected the Ukrainian insinuations of Russian involvement in the Hamas attack as “complete nonsense.”
Hamas militants fired hundreds of rockets into Israel on Saturday, followed by raids into nearby Israeli settlements, villages, and towns. Israeli authorities said more than 1,300 people died in the surprise attack. West Jerusalem has responded by declaring a “war” against Gaza.
Speaking about the escalating conflict, Putin noted that Israel is facing an unprecedented attack but that its response has been “quite brutal.”
He also offered Russian mediation, given that Moscow had “very good relations” with Israel, as well as traditional ties with the Palestinians, “so no one can suspect that we want to play some kind of games.”
