On Tuesday, the Israeli army intensified the bombing of various parts of the Gaza Strip, especially in Rafah, in the Southport area of the coastal enclave, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, including many children and women. | TXTOn Tuesday evening, the army fired a missile at Palestinians, fleeing their homes southeast of Gaza City, killing one Palestinian and wounding several others. ● Eyewitnesses said an Israeli military drone fired a missile at the Palestinians near Doula Junction at the intersection between Street 8 and Zeitoun neighborhood, killing at least one and wounding many others, who were moved to the Baptist Hospital. ● In Rafah, in Gaza’s southmost part, the army fired missiles at homes in several parts of the city, killing many Palestinians, including children, and wounding dozens. ● Medical sources said an infant, Mohammad Saqallah, only four months, in addition to Mohammad Nader Qishta, 6 years of age, and Hamadan Nader Qishta, 8, were killed when the army fired a missile at their homes. The sources added that a Palestinian man, Ibrahim Yousef Srour, 35, was killed when the army bombarded the Rafah Border Terminal, as he and many families were trying to flee the area after the Israeli tanks invaded it, and dozens were injured.

■ Student protests against Israel’s war on Gaza spread across Europe (Al Jazeera)
■ Rafah invasion: With defeat in sight, how can Netanyahu declare victory? (David Hearst)

Matt Kennard | British spy planes have recorded up to 1,000 hours of footage over Gaza, including from the day Israel assassinated three UK aid workers. | The Royal Air Force (RAF) has flown 200 surveillance flights over Gaza since December, it can be revealed. The UK government refused to give any details about the flights which began on December 3 but Declassified has independently constructed a timeline. The extraordinary number of missions over the past five months works out at well over a flight per day and continues as Israel invades the supposedly “safe” southern city of Rafah. March saw the highest number of British spy flights over Gaza with 44 missions.

 ■ At the end of the 1980s, the reference geopolitical model was the unipolar world, based on Western primacy. What cultural, military, and economic pillars is the Washington Consensus based on? Is it true freedom? – The military in economic pillars that dominate Washington today have nothing to do with freedom. They have to do with people who were unwilling to accept the collapse of communism. Whereby the enemy was transformed by communism to ethnic racism.

 ■ With the birth of the BRICS, is it possible to talk about a multipolar option? What are the limits that you see in this geopolitical dimension? – The birth of the BRICS was caused by these people we call the neocons who engaged in ethnic racism and targeted Russia by removing them from the world economy under SWIFT. This woke up many in the world, realizing that the dollar was now being weaponized and was no longer a monetary instrument exclusively. Nations began to realize if they did not conform to the commands of Washington, then they to could be removed from SWIFT. Thus they have divided the world economy bringing to an end globalization.

 ■ Is it still possible to avoid a large-scale world conflict? – It is unlikely that we can avoid world war. Governments need war because their debts are no longer sustainable. They will use the war as the excuse for defaults – as was the case for WWII. They will create Bretton Woods II with the IMF digital currency as the reserve.

The Russian president’s leadership has paved the way for a multipolar world as the country is able to withstand Western aggression on multiple fronts. | Vladimir Putin was inaugurated for another term as Russia’s president Tuesday in a ceremony following an unprecedented victory in March’s election. ● Putin prevailed with 87% of the vote, an unmatched performance in Russia’s modern post-Soviet history, with voter turnout reaching over 77%. Western countries have expressed dissatisfaction with the development with only seven of the European Union’s 27 member states reportedly sending representatives to Tuesday’s ceremony. ● But domestic support for the longtime Russian leader is strong claimed international relations expert Mark Sleboda, who appeared on Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program Tuesday to discuss sentiment on the ground from Moscow.

■ Relations with West, national resilience and forging victory: Key takeaways from Putin’s inauguration (RT.com)
■ The shock and awe of yesterday, and then the inauguration (amarynth) (Global South)(H/T: Pepe Escobar)
■ Ukraine SitRep: Eating The Seed Corn - Intervention Threats And Responses (Moon of Alabama)
■ Russia responds to ‘provocative statements and threats’ by Western officials about sending troops into Ukraine with nuclear drills and threats of its own (Leo Hohman)

■ Vučić after the meeting with Xi: "Xi gave me two important news; We'll have China's support in the UN"
■ China supports Serbia in defending its sovereignty on Kosovo issue — Xi (TASS)
■ There’s a careful plan behind Xi’s European tour (Timur Fomenko)