Six In The Morning Monday 30 October 2023

 

Israel offensive presses deeper into Gaza as tank seen on key road

What are the Israeli military planning around Gaza City?

Jeremy Bowen International editor, reporting from southern Israel

It's very hard to work out what is exactly happening on the ground in Gaza because the Israelis are managing communications very, very carefully.

At one point this morning it seemed like the Israelis had briefly cut off one of the two north-south roads in Gaza. A video showed a car approaching an Israeli tank on the road, then hurriedly turning around while the tank opens fire and an explosion follows.

Why are the Israelis doing this? It may be because they might be trying to surround Gaza City, which the military sees as the key nest of Hamas.

I think if they try to do that, then the military will have to engage in house-to-house fighting.

That said, I'm not entirely sure the Israeli military have enough forces to completely seal up a place as big and complex as Gaza City. Hamas is highly embedded in the city, including with a network of tunnels, and one would think they’ve been preparing and thinking about what Israel might do. So this is going to be a big challenge for the Israelis.

Summary

1. Israeli armoured vehicles have been seen on Gaza's main north-south road, close to Gaza City, as Israel continues expanding its ground offensive
2. The Israeli military say they won't comment on the location of their forces, but earlier said troops had killed "dozens of terrorists" during overnight clashes
3. Meanwhile, "hundreds and hundreds" of patients are stuck in hospitals in northern Gaza, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees says
4. Doctors say Israel told staff to evacuate Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City on Sunday but that moving patients - many of whom are in intensive care - is impossible
5. Elsewhere, Hamas has released a video, which the BBC isn't showing, of three hostages held in Gaza. Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu describes it as "cruel psychological propaganda"
6. Shani Louk, a 22-year-old Israeli-German woman who went missing when Hamas stormed a music festival on 7 October, has been confirmed dead by her family
7. Israel has been bombing Gaza since the 7 October Hamas attacks that killed 1,400 people and saw at least 239 people kidnapped as hostages
8. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 8,000 people have been killed since Israel's retaliatory bombing began 

Iran arrests lawyer at funeral of girl who died after metro incident

Nasrin Sotoudeh arrested at funeral of Armita Garavand, who died after alleged encounter with morality police, amid reports of police beatings and arrests at cemetery

Agence France-Presse in Tehran and Deepa Parent

Mon 30 Oct 2023 10.42 GMT

Iranian authorities have arrested a prominent lawyer and human rights defender as she attended the funeral of a teenage girl who died after a disputed metro incident, her husband has said.

Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested on Sunday in Tehran during the funeral of 16-year-old Armita Garavand, who died a day earlier after nearly a month in intensive care.

Sotoudeh, 60, who was awarded the European parliament’s 2012 Sakharov prize for her human rights work, has been arrested several times in recent years.

The storming of Dagestan airport: How the mob in search of Jewish passengers unfolded

At least 60 pro-Palestinian demonstrators were arrested after storming an airport in Russia in search of a flight from Israel

Tom Watling

More than a thousand pro-Palestine protesters stormed a Russian airport on Sunday evening after rumours swirled that “Israeli refugees” were arriving from Tel Aviv.

The group stormed into the Makhachkala airport, located in the Republic of Dagestan, and rushed onto the landing field, chanting antisemitic slogans and seeking passengers arriving on the Tel Aviv flight, Russian news agencies and social media reported.

Authorities quickly closed the airport in the capital of the predominantly Muslim region and police converged on the facility.

Bavarian AfD lawmaker arrested for incitement

Daniel Halemba — recently elected to Bavaria's state parliament — is a member of a student fraternity that is being investigated for displaying Nazi symbols.

German police on Monday arrested Daniel Halemba, a lawmaker from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, prosecutors said.

The 22-year-old, who was recently elected to the Bavarian state parliament, is being investigated for incitement and the use of symbols of unconstitutional organizations.

Prosecutors said he was taken into custody in the Stuttgart area on Monday morning after a warrant for his arrest was issued last week.

Halemba has admitted to being a member of a fraternity, "Burschenschaft Teutonia Prag zu Würzburg," which was raided by authorities last month. Prosecutors said they suspected there could be symbols and objects associated with the Nazi Party on the group's premises.

When conflict meets climate change, in Gaza and beyond

People living on the front lines of conflict often find themselves on the front lines of the climate crisis as well. Many of the countries most vulnerable to climate change – including Sudan, Afghanistan and Yemen – are also experiencing instability that leaves them ill-equipped to adapt to its challenges. And some are warning that the Gaza Strip will soon also be tied up in a Gordian knot where the climate crisis meets armed conflict. 

In what might seem a cruel twist of fate, countries in conflict are also among those most vulnerable to climate change. Of the 25 countries ranked most vulnerable to climate change on the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-Gain) Index in 2021, 14 are currently experiencing armed violence, including Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

While there is not a direct correlation between climate change and conflict, countries at war are less able to cope with the effects of climate change because their ability to adapt is undermined by internal divisions or ongoing violence.  

Climate change can also inflame existing tensions over access to diminishing necessities.

“One exacerbates the other,” says Yvonne Su, an expert in international development and an assistant professor at York University. “If a place is climate vulnerable, people could be fighting over resources.”

Japan to deploy ASDF fighters to Australia on rotational basis

By KAIGO NARISAWA/ Staff Writer

The Defense Ministry plans to begin deploying fighter jets to Australia on a rotational basis as early as next fiscal year for joint exercises designed to counter a possible attack Down Under, sources said.

The joint exercises would be conducted under a scenario of Japan exercising the right to collective self-defense and the Self-Defense Forces counterattacking a military assault against Australian forces, the sources said.

Japan and Australia have rapidly deepened their security cooperation in recent years to deal with China’s continued military buildup.