Russia Accuses US Of Stoking "Escalation" By Mideast Force Build-Up As Pentagon Blames Iran | The United Nations has revised its grim figure of the rising death toll from Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, saying that it has surpassed 5,000 as of Monday. It stands at 5,087. Separately, over 90 Palestinians have been killed in escalating West Bank violence, which over the weekend included Israel launching a rare airstrike on Jenin. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) are still holding at least 222 Israeli and foreign captives – a number which has again been revised upward. ● European Union foreign ministers are meanwhile gathered in Brussels for an urgent meeting to take up the contentious issue of a ceasefire. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has been calling on world bodies to back a ceasefire. In response, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said, “Personally, I think that a humanitarian pause is needed in order to allow the humanitarian support to come in and be distributed, seeing that half of the population of Gaza has been moving from their houses.”

■ U.K. Prime Minister Sunak’s Message to Israel: Carry On with the Slaughter (Peter Oborne)(Global Research)

■ The Mask Comes off: Israeli Officials Show True Nature of Conflict | Over the past 24 Hours, the "real" face of Israel has begun to show; Genocidal rhetoric from Israeli officials:

💬 "We are dropping hundreds of tons of bombs on Gaza, the focus is on destruction, not accuracy”
-Daniel Hagari, Israeli Army Spox.

💬 “Now there is only one goal: Nakba. A Nakba in Gaza that will dwarf the Nakba of 1948”
-Ariel Kallner, Israeli politician of Likud

💬 “Wipe out their families, their mothers and their children. These animals must not be allowed to live any longer”
-Ezra Yachin, Israeli army veteran

💬 “Jericho missile! Doomsday weapon! That’s my opinion. Powerful rockets to be fired without borders, Gaza to be smashed and razed to the ground. Without mercy!”
-Tally Gotliv, Israeli politician of Likud

💬 “It is an entire nation who are responsible. This rhetoric about civilians not being involved is absolutely untrue…and we will fight until we break their backs.”
-Israeli President Herzog

💬 “I want to tell the world what they have long known about me in Israel: I don’t care about Gaza. I literally don’t care about Gaza. They can go swimming in the sea”
-Maya Golan, Israeli Minister of Women’s Affairs

Yet Joe Biden says Israel is doing everything to avoid civilian casualties, when the stated goal is destruction of Palestinians in Gaza?

Crimean parliament speaker Vladimir Konstantinov told Sputnik, commenting on a recent report by an American newspaper, that the intelligence services of three countries were behind the two deadly attacks on the Crimean Bridge. | On Monday, the news agency reported, citing sources, that naval drones used by Kiev in July to strike the bridge that links Crimea to mainland Russia were developed by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other Western intelligence services. 💬 "The strike on the bridge is a well-planned, well-calculated operation, including with the help of military aircraft and reconnaissance drones. As in the first terrorist attack, three countries took part in this [the second attack] — besides the SBU [the Ukrainian Security Service], without the CIA and MI6 [the UK Secret Intelligence Service], this could not have been carried out. They won't trick us with tales about their innocence," Konstantinov emphasized. The intelligence services of the United States and United Kingdom are accomplices in the crimes committed by Kiev, he added. ● Konstantinov also described the Washington Post's investigation as misinformation, adding that Ukraine had long lost its independence and acts on direct instructions of Western countries. ● The Crimean Bridge has been a target of Ukrainian attacks since the start of Russia's military operation. Last October, a truck bomb exploded on the bridge, killing the driver and four civilians and damaging the bridge. Ukraine initially denied having anything to do with the bombing, but later acknowledged the attack was carried out by its security service. In July, Ukraine attacked the bridge with sea drones, killing a couple who were driving across when the bridge was bombed and injuring their teenage daughter. The bridge was damaged as a result of the strike.

Peter Szijjarto insisted that the EU is a political and economic bloc, not a military alliance | Hungary does not support the idea for the EU to take part in the production of arms and training of soldiers in Ukraine because that would mean the bloc’s member countries being drawn into military operations against Russia, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said following a meeting with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg. 💬 "The production of weapons or training of servicemen on the territory of Ukraine, in the combat zone, is absolutely unacceptable for us, because such a decision would immediately draw the European Union into war," the minister told Hungarian journalists in televised remarks. He insisted that the EU is a political and economic bloc, not a military alliance.

■ EU member objects to ‘fast track membership’ for Ukraine (RT.com)