Pro-Palestine march: Police braced as hundreds of thousands of protesters to descend on London

The march’s route will take activists from the Marble Arch nook of Hyde Park at roughly 12pm on Saturday, head south by way of the capital down the Vauxhall Bridge Road and cross the River Thames en route to the US Embassy on Nine Elms Lane in opposition to US president Joe Biden’s unwavering help for the Israeli army’s response to the Hamas assaults.

Bel Trew visits villages within the occupied West Bank and hears harrowing tales of settler violence during which Palestinian households describe being compelled from their houses – in what human rights teams say is the one largest land seize since Israel captured the area in 1967:

The man in Israeli army uniform sliced off Mohamed’s garments with a knife, urinated on him, after which, after relentlessly beating him, tried to rape him with a stick. He particulars the assault that passed off within the village of Wadi al-Siq, about 20 miles northeast of Jerusalem within the occupied West Bank.

The demise toll from Hamas’s brutal assault on 7 October had been revised to round 1,200, down from a earlier authorities estimate of 1,400, Israel’s international ministry has mentioned.

“Around 1,200 is the official number of victims of the October 7 massacre,” spokesperson Lior Haiat mentioned in a press release.

The determine was up to date on Thursday, Mr Haiat mentioned. He didn’t present a cause for the revision.

The demise depend, which incorporates foreigners, “is not a final number. It [is] an updated estimate. It might change when [they] identify all the bodies,” Mr Haiat mentioned.

The govt director of Israeli media advocacy group HonestReporting has mentioned he accepts as “adequate” denials by 4 main media organisations that that they had no earlier information of the 7 October Hamas assault on Israel, including he was “so relieved”.

Reuters, the Associated Press, CNN and The New York Times issued adamant denials after HonestReporting printed an article on Thursday questioning whether or not Palestinian photojournalists had tipped off the 4 retailers, which had used their photographs.

HonestReporting’s Gil Hoffman advised Reuters his organisation had not claimed to know that there had been any prior information by the information teams of the Hamas assault.

“I was so relieved when all four of the media organisations said they didn’t have prior knowledge,” Mr Hoffman mentioned. “We raised questions, we didn’t give answers,” he added. “I still very much think that the questions were legitimate and the answers were adequate from the media organisations themselves.”

The Canadian wing of Doctors Without Borders mentioned it had misplaced contact with its medical workers on the Al Shifa hospital following an air strike.

“We are currently unable to contact any of our staff inside Al Shifa hospital. We are extremely concerned about the safety of patients and the medical staff,” the non-profit wrote in a put up on X.

“Patients are still in the hospital, some in critical condition and unable to move, there are caretakers still inside the facility.

“We urgently reiterate our calls to stop the attacks against hospitals and for the protection of medical facilities, medical staff and patients.”

Journalist Ash Sarkar mentioned she and her associates had been compelled out of a pub by males who had been threatening them with violence for sporting a Palestinian scarf and carrying a Palestinian flag.

“Just been forced out of a pub by men threatening me and my friends with violence, and hurling abuse,” she wrote on X, previously recognized as Twitter.

“Staff were very apologetic about it, but the fact is the media and politicians have whipped up a frenzy of hate.”

She mentioned one of the boys threatening them had been “waving around a copy of the Evening Standard which had an image of a poppy at odds with a Palestinian flag”.

“When he saw my friends, he accused them of spitting in the face of people who fought for this country,” she mentioned.“

Others joined in. There was also a distinct undertone of racism,” she added.

Israel should cease bombing Gaza and killing civilians, Emmanuel Macron has advised the BBC in an interview printed late on Friday.

The French president mentioned there was “no justification” for the bombing and saying a ceasefire would profit Israel.

He mentioned that France “clearly condemns” the “terrorist” actions of Hamas, however that whereas recognising Israel’s proper to shield itself, “we do urge them to stop this bombing” in Gaza.

When requested if he needed different leaders – together with within the United Sates and Britain – to be a part of his requires a ceasefire, Macron mentioned: “I hope they will.”

The final month of Israel’s invasion of Gaza has been the deadliest but for journalists in additional than 30 years.

Retaliatory strikes within the wake of Hamas assaults on 7 October have killed a minimum of 35 Palestinian journalists and media staff, as of 10 November, marking the deadliest interval for the press because the Committee to Protect Journalists started documenting the killing of journalists in 1992.

Within the previous month, Gaza journalists have additionally reported violent threats, arrests and cyberattacks, whereas Israel’s ongoing bombardments have destroyed workplaces and houses, and meals and water shortages and energy and communications outages have compounded a rising humanitarian disaster within the area.

More than 11,070 Palestinians have been killed because the struggle started, with two-thirds of them ladies and youngsters, in accordance to the Gaza well being ministry.

Another 2,650 folks have been reported lacking.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken mentioned on Friday that “far too many” Palestinians have died and suffered. While current Israeli steps to strive to minimise civilian hurt are constructive, he mentioned, they don’t seem to be sufficient.

Assistant secretary of state Barbara Leaf advised American lawmakers this week that it was “very possible” the demise toll was even larger than the Gaza well being ministry’s tally.

At least 1,200 folks have been killed in Israel, primarily within the preliminary Hamas assault, and 41 Israeli troopers have been killed in Gaza because the floor offensive started, Israeli officers mentioned.

The international ministry had beforehand estimated the civilian demise toll at 1,400, and gave no cause on Friday for the revision.

The World Health Organisation mentioned that 20 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are now not functioning, together with a pediatric hospital that stopped operations after a reported Israeli strike within the space. “If there is a hell on earth today, its name is northern Gaza,” the UN humanitarian company spokesperson, Jens Laerke, advised reporters in Geneva. More than two-thirds of Gaza’s inhabitants of 2.3 million have fled their houses because the struggle started. In the south, they’re crowded into shelters with dwindling provides of meals and water as the struggle enters its second month.