Latest news bulletin | October 12th – Evening
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00:00 Under siege, the residents of Gaza facing electricity blackouts and struggling to access
00:06 their basic needs.
00:10 Washington shows its solidarity with Tel Aviv by a visit from its secretary of state just
00:15 five days after Israel suffers its largest terrorist attack in history.
00:23 Rolling airstrikes by Israeli forces have reduced homes to rubble.
00:27 The United Nations says at least 120,000 Palestinians have nowhere to live.
00:34 Israel says it's targeting locations occupied by Hamas militants in response to the group's
00:39 attack on Saturday.
00:56 Some businesses are still open, but the power supply is unreliable.
01:00 The Israeli government says electricity will only be restored when Hamas frees the hostages
01:06 it kidnapped during the weekend's attack.
01:09 Life without power is difficult, but finding basic goods is getting harder.
01:13 It's not just homes that have been damaged or destroyed.
01:34 Hospitals and ambulances have also been hit.
01:38 Palestinian medics killed in Gaza.
02:06 A group of independent UN experts says Israel's strikes on Gaza amount to collective punishment.
02:15 The UN itself says Israel's siege of Gaza is unlawful.
02:23 Hamas' latest attack against Israel is one that required exceptional logistics.
02:28 So how did the group bypass Israel's world-renowned intelligence services and who financed the
02:34 operation?
02:35 Joost Hilterman says analog tactics were used in a world where "digital war" has become
02:40 the norm.
02:41 "We have to keep in mind we're talking about a very low level of sophistication when it
02:48 comes to military hardware.
02:52 In the end, what did they use?
02:54 They used some hang gliders, powered hang gliders, well you can get them on the open
02:57 market.
02:59 They used regular rifles and small arms.
03:04 They used motorcycles and pickup trucks.
03:07 They used some drones and explosives.
03:10 And of course they fired rockets, but most of the rockets are not sophisticated."
03:16 Some experts suspect Iran is financing Hamas' attacks due to its political interests.
03:22 But is it possible to verify Tehran's involvement in last Saturday's operation?
03:26 Dr. Sejian Gahal from the London-based Asia Pacific Foundation seems to think so.
03:33 "Along with the sheer ferocity of imagination, the scale of it, preventing any leakage of
03:40 information, so you also have to factor in that Hamas has got a lot of support, tactical,
03:48 strategic and financial backing from Iran, who have been able to operate in many ways
03:55 in various guises around the world.
03:57 So Hamas may be taking a leaf out of Iran's book."
04:00 "There should be no doubt that one of the motivations behind the Hamas operation was
04:04 to prevent normalization of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
04:09 Now the Biden administration appeared to be close to brokering a normalization of ties
04:15 between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which Iran strongly opposed."
04:22 Washington shows its solidarity with Tel Aviv by a visit from its Secretary of State just
04:26 five days after Israel suffered its largest terrorist attack in history.
04:32 The United States has called for a proportionate response.
04:36 During his meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister, Antony Blinken carried a message
04:40 of solidarity for the Israeli people.
04:42 Whilst Netanyahu was unrelenting.
04:46 "The message that I bring to Israel is this.
04:51 You may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as America exists, you
04:57 will never ever have to.
04:59 We will always be there by your side."
05:02 "Hamas should be treated exactly the way ISIS was treated.
05:08 They should be spit out from the community of nations.
05:12 No leader should meet them.
05:15 No country should harbor them.
05:17 And those that do should be sanctioned."
05:20 Blinken has confirmed that there are at least 25 US citizens amongst those killed in the
05:24 Hamas attacks.
05:25 On Friday, he will meet with Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who has
05:31 maintained silence since last Saturday.
05:38 Vladimir Putin has arrived in Kyrgyzstan in his first trip outside of Russia since his
05:43 indictment by the International Criminal Court.
05:46 The Russian president is in the Central Asian country to take part in the summit of the
05:50 Commonwealth of Independent States, which brings together former members of the Soviet
06:00 Union.
06:04 The Hague-based court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin over alleged deportations
06:08 of children from Ukraine.
06:13 Signatories to the court's founding treaty are obliged to detain him if he enters their
06:18 territory but Kyrgyzstan has never signed up to the court.
06:23 Armenia's parliament has voted to ratify the treaty in the aftermath of Azerbaijan's recent
06:28 seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh.
06:31 Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is not among the CIS leaders taking part in the gatherings.
06:42 Ongoing localized Russian offensive operations near Avdiivka likely demonstrate the ability
06:47 of Russian forces to learn and apply tactical battlefield lessons in Ukraine.
06:53 The geolocated footage from the 10th and the 11th of October shows that Russian troops
06:58 advanced southwest of Avdiivka close to Severny here in this area and also northwest of Avdiivka
07:07 near Stepovo and Krasnogorivka in this area.
07:13 According to Russian sources, instead of employing human wave style meat assaults, Russian forces
07:18 are likely effectively employing electronic warfare systems, counter-battery artillery
07:23 preparations, aerial reconnaissance and others.
07:27 The Institute for the Study of War assesses that these adaptations, however, are unlikely
07:31 to translate into wider operational and strategic gains for Russian forces.
07:39 Geolocated footage shows that Russian gains around Avdiivka are concentrated to the southwest
07:45 of Avdiivka and Russian forces have not completed an operational encirclement and will likely
07:51 struggle to do so if that is their intent.
07:55 Avdiivka is also a notoriously well fortified and defended Ukrainian stronghold which will
08:02 likely complicate Russian forces' ability to closely approach or fully capture the settlement.
08:09 The hypothetical capture of Avdiivka will not open new routes of advance to the rest
08:13 of Donetsk region.
08:16 As the Institute for the Study of War previously assessed, Russian forces likely intend attacks
08:21 in the Avdiivka area to fix Ukrainian forces and prevent them from redeploying to the other
08:28 areas of the front.
08:29 However, Ukrainian officials have already identified the Avdiivka push as Russian fixing
08:35 operation and they are unlikely to unduly commit Ukrainian manpower to this axis.
08:46 Sunday's election in Poland could be crucial for the future of the EU.
08:51 The country's two main parties, the conservative nationalist right-wing Law and Justice Party
08:57 currently in power and the liberal pro-European right-wing Civil Platform are both unlikely
09:01 to be able to form a government alone.
09:06 Members of the European Parliament realise the importance of the vote but are all hoping
09:10 for different outcomes.
09:14 I
09:36 would say that the main difference is that the current opposition has clearly taken a
09:41 constructive stance when it comes to engaging on the European level.
09:46 So when we see the challenges that are ahead of us, be it around the question how are we
09:51 going to shape the green transformation, migration politics, also other issues, they have maybe
09:57 taken conservative standpoints but they are constructive in engaging on the European level.
10:02 The current Polish government has been taking a hostile attitude towards the EU for many
10:06 years now.
10:08 The main clash between Warsaw and Brussels concerns respect for the rule of law and independence
10:14 of the judiciary from political influence.
10:17 On Sunday, Brussels will keep an eye not only on the elections but also on the Polish government's
10:47 referendum which contains four questions.
10:50 One of which will ask Poles if they support the admission of what the government calls
10:54 illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa in line with the EU's mandatory relocation
10:58 rules designed to ease the burden on the bloc's border countries.
11:10 It's a long way from a coil chopped in half and preserved in a tank of formaldehyde but
11:16 these paintings are by Damien Hirst.
11:19 He may have been the infanterable of the British art scene but now he seems to have calmed
11:25 down.
11:26 The Secret Gardens painting series is being shown for the first time at the Friis London
11:31 Art Fair which will run from the 11th to the 15th of October.
11:35 From small beginnings, Friis has become an international fair with sister shows in Los
11:40 Angeles, New York and Seoul.
11:44 (whooshing)