What does it mean that Israel is pulling out Golani units from Gaza? | Just one day after an announcement by the Israeli army alleging that it has achieved ‘operational control’ in the Shejaiya neighborhood in Gaza, the army declared on Thursday that it is pulling the Golani Brigade out from the Gaza Strip. Are these two events linked? Yes. Israel announced that it had achieved some kind of control over Shejaiya to reduce the shock of the news that its most elite fighting force had essentially been defeated, forcing it to an early retreat. ● What is the Golani Brigade? Military expert Maj. Gen. Fayez Duwairi told Al-Jazeera that the Golani Brigade is one of Israel’s military most special forces, consisting of eight battalions – four tank battalions, two infantry battalions, one paratrooper battalion, one artillery battalion, in addition to supply and maintenance operations. ● In 2014, the Golani suffered heavy losses in Shejaiya neighborhood. The current battle for Shejaiya was meant as sending a strong message that the Golani has managed to overcome the Shejaiya hurdle. The outcome, however, was the exact opposite, as the Golani has lost dozens of its top fighters and officers forcing the retreat announced on Thursday. But what is the condition of Palestinian Resistance? A few hours before the Israeli military announcement, military spokesman for Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida, announced in a statement that Palestinian Resistance has managed to inflict heavy losses on the Israeli army in Gaza in recent days. He also said that the Palestinian Resistance has destroyed fully or partially 720 Israeli military vehicles, and that the morale of the Resistance is higher than before.

■ “Israel” Pulls Golani out of Gaza Quagmire (Alahed News)
■ Hamas' Abu Obaida Reveals Series Of Setbacks For IDF; '25 Israeli Soldiers Eliminated...' (Hindustan Times) (VIDEO)

Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war | One in four Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip — over 570,000 people — are starving due to the Israeli siege, according to a report using data from the UN and other aid agencies that was released Thursday. ● The report, published by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), said the Israeli onslaught in Gaza has “caused catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity across the Gaza Strip.” ● The IPC has a five-phase scale for malnutrition, and the report estimates the entire population of Gaza is facing Phase 3 or higher. Phase 3 is defined as: “Households either have food consumption gaps that are reflected by high or above-usual acute malnutrition; or are marginally able to meet minimum food needs but only by depleting essential livelihood assets or through crisis-coping strategies.” ● One in four households in Gaza is in Phase 5, which means catastrophic famine-like conditions. Phase 5 is defined as: “Households have an extreme lack of food and/or other basic needs even after full employment of coping strategies. Starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident. For famine classification, the area needs to have extreme critical levels of acute malnutrition and mortality.”

■ Not Seen Since Vietnam: “Israel” Dropped Hundreds of 2,000-Pound Bombs on Gaza (Alahed News)
■ Mostly Children, Israeli Missiles Kill More Than 200 In Gaza At Dawn (IMEMC)
■ Israeli troops 'summarily kill' unarmed Palestinian men: UN (The Cradle)
■ UN warns of famine risk, death toll surpasses 20,000 (The New Arab)

Children of Gaza are dying
■ The Little Drummer Boy (Wikipedia)

“We will annihilate everyone” in Gaza
■ The Expression of Hatred for Gentiles (Richard Edmondson/Nahida Izzat) (10/04/14)
■ APPLICATION INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS (.pdf)(84 pages) Press Release (.pdf)

Dmitry Polyansky added that "existing difficulties persist and are worsening" in Syria, including terrorist activity, clashes between Kurds and pro-Turkish militias, and instability in the south of the country | Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s first deputy envoy to the UN, cautioned against allowing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to spill over to Syria. 💬 "The escalation in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which is unprecedented by the number of casualties, is provoking additional tension in our friendly nation of Syria. Against the background of Israel's bloody operation in the Gaza Strip and incessant raids in the West Bank, there has been a noticeable surge in activity of various forces and formations across the region," the diplomat said at a meeting of the UN Security Council. "The ever more frequent Israeli air raids on Syrian sites <...> as well as the intensifying exchanges of strikes across the Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel risk dragging Syria into a full-scale regional confrontation. There can’t be allowed to happen by any means."

The Catholic Relief Services had sent the coordinates of several sites in Gaza to Senate staffers, in an attempt to prevent Israeli strikes on internationally protected sites in the Strip. | The Israeli military used the locations of a catholic church and a convent in Gaza, which it had obtained from US congressional staff, to later target them with airstrikes and sniper fire, Politico reported citing a series of emails from October. ● In an attempt to prevent Israeli strikes on religious sites in Gaza, one of the largest Christian aid organizations there, Catholic Relief Services, passed on the coordinates of several sites in the Strip to Senate staffers, who in turn sent them to Israeli authorities, the report, published on Thursday, highlighted. ● According to Politico, the move by the aid organization came in line with attempts to gain a commitment from Israeli authorities not to target at least four buildings in Gaza, including the two that were later struck by the Israeli forces.

Washington is reportedly pressing its partners for a strategy before the second anniversary of the start of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev | The White House has started urgent discussions with its allies on seizing "frozen" [i.e. stolen] Russian assets and using them to help Ukraine, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing sources. Western nations are currently struggling to greenlight new aid packages for Kiev. ● The administration of US President Joe Biden “is quietly signaling new support” for the requisition of over $300 billion in Russian foreign exchange reserves that were blocked by Western nations after the start of the Ukraine conflict, according to unnamed American and European officials interviewed by the newspaper. ● Some US officials have expressed concerns that such a drastic move would undermine the country’s credibility as a major financial hub. However, the Biden administration, in coordination with the G7, is now “taking another look” at whether it could sidestep Congressional approval to use the funds, the NYT reported. ● Moscow has repeatedly denounced the freezing of its funds abroad, warning that any seizure would be “illegal” and in violation of “all possible rules.”

■ Kremlin Warns of Consequences Over West's Scheme to Use Frozen Russian Assets For Kiev Aid
■ Washington is advising the EU on how to find a legal loophole to steal Russian assets (RT.com)

Officers interrogated Kit Klarenberg for five hours about his political views and reporting | Journalist Kit Klarenberg, a UK citizen, was detained by British authorities and grilled on his political reporting and alleged ties with Russia, Grayzone reported on Wednesday. ● Klarenberg, who has written for numerous outlets including RT, and is known for his exposes of dark British and US intelligence service secrets, often using leaked or unclassified documents, was reportedly approached by six plain-clothes counter-terror officers immediately after his plane touched down in London’s Luton airport earlier this month. He was traveling from Belgrade, Serbia, where he currently resides. ● Grayzone reports that the journalist was then escorted to a room where police confiscated all his electronic devices, bank cards, camera memory cards and sims, took his fingerprints and DNA, took photographs and subjected him to a five-hour long interrogation, threatening arrest if he refused to cooperate.

Spain has blocked the European Union's participation in the US-led operation in the Red Sea aimed at protecting commercial vessels from Yemeni Houthis, Spanish newspaper El Confidencial reported. | Spain vetoed the EU's participation in the Operation Prosperity Guardian despite the government's advocating for whole Europe to join the mission several hours before, the newspaper reported. Spain has not explained the u-turn on the policy to the partners, the newspaper reported on Thursday. ● On Monday, the US launched an international operation aimed at protecting commercial ships in the Red Sea from the attacks of Yemen's Ansar Allah rebel movement, also known as the Houthis. On Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said that more than 20 countries had so far signed on to participate in the coalition.

■ Spain blocks EU participation in US operation in Red Sea (TASS)