Officials from the London Academy Business School and the University of Sunderland are currently seeking approval from the National Universities Commission to run degree programmes in Nigeria.

A delegation from the University of Sunderland, led by Derek Watson, confirmed this after a meeting with the acting Executive Secretary of the NUC, Chris Maiyaki, in Abuja, according to a statement released on Thursday.

According to the statement, Watson, an associate professor from the Faculty of Business Law and Tourism, was quoted to have said, “The meeting with the Executive Secretary was very productive, the University of Sunderland has over 30 years of experience.

“We were the first UK university to market. What we have agreed on today is the criticality of following the compliance procedures. In addition to that, we would source credible academics to deliver our programmes from LABS who are qualified teachers and also practising consultants. The student will get the same experience as those students studying in England.”

President/Director of Studies, London Academy Business School, Larry Jones-Esan, explained that the visit to NUC was to get the nod to run programmes in Nigeria.

He said, “The meeting with the NUC today is for us to get the recognition that we are allowed to run the Sunderland courses in Nigeria; so, we do not need the NUC accreditation, what we need is recognition, that is very important because if we run any courses in Nigeria without them recognising it, that degree is useless and they cannot do NYSC, so we do not want that to be the case.

“So, what we have done is that we bring those people in and come in myself as the CEO of the London Academy Business School, make sure that we have them aware of what we are doing.”

Jones-Esan described the partnership between the two institutions as important, having seen an opportunity in Nigeria.

“If two million people apply for university admissions every year in Nigeria and only 700,000 are getting a place, that is a problem and that is a challenge and they want to solve that problem and we think we have come at the right time,” he said.

Punch

Israel’s military directed the evacuation of northern Gaza, a region that is home to 1.1 million people, within 24 hours Friday, a U.N. spokesman said, as Israel presses its war to eradicate the Hamas militant group after its deadly attack.

The order could signal an impending ground offensive, though the Israeli military has not yet confirmed such an appeal. On Thursday it said that while it was preparing, no decision has been made.

The order, delivered to the U.N., comes as Israel presses an offensive against Hamas militants. U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric called the order “impossible” without “devastating humanitarian consequences.”

A UN official says that the United Nation is trying to get clarity from Israeli officials at the senior most political level.

“It’s completely unprecedent,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Panicked rumors of an evacuation had begun to spread in north Gaza, home to almost half the population of the territory, in the early morning Friday.

A ground offensive in Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas and where the population is densely packed into a sliver of land only 40 kilometers (25 miles) long, would likely bring even higher casualties on both sides in brutal house-to-house fighting.

Hamas’ assault Saturday and smaller attacks since have killed more than 1,300 people in Israel, including 247 soldiers — a toll unseen in Israel for decades — and the ensuing Israeli bombardment has killed more than 1,530 people in Gaza, according to authorities on both sides. Israel says roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed inside Israel, and that hundreds of the dead in Gaza are Hamas members. Thousands have been wounded on both sides.

As Israel pounds Gaza from the air, Hamas militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel. Amid concerns that the fighting could spread in the region, Syrian state media reported that Israeli airstrikes on Thursday put two Syrian international airports out of service.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “crush” Hamas after the militants stormed into the country’s south on Saturday and massacred hundreds of people, including killings of children in their homes and young people at a music festival.

Amid grief and demands for vengeance among the Israeli public, the government is under intense pressure to topple Hamas rather than continuing to try to bottle it up in Gaza.

The number of people forced from their homes by Israel’s airstrikes soared 25% in a day, reaching 423,000 out of a population of 2.3 million, the U.N. said Thursday. Most crowded into U.N.-run schools.

Earlier, the Israeli military pulverized the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, prepared for a possible ground invasion and said its complete siege of the territory — which has left Palestinians desperate for food, fuel and medicine — would remain in place until Hamas militants free some 150 hostages taken during their grisly weekend incursion.

A visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, along with shipments of U.S. weapons, offered a powerful green light to Israel to drive ahead with its retaliation in Gaza after Hamas’ deadly attack on civilians and soldiers, even as international aid groups warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis. Israel has halted deliveries of basic necessities and electricity to Gaza’s 2.3 million people and prevented entry of supplies from Egypt.

“Not a single electricity switch will be flipped on, not a single faucet will be turned on and not a single fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages are returned home,” Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said on social media.

Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters Thursday that forces “are preparing for a ground maneuver” should political leaders order one.

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Fierce fighting rages around Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine

Russian and Ukrainian forces fought fierce battles around the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka on Thursday after Moscow launched one of its biggest military offensives in months.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces were holding their ground on the third day of battle, but municipal officials said the Russian attacks were relentless.

Kyiv says Moscow has redirected many soldiers and large amounts of equipment to the Avdiivka area, showing it can hit back over four months into a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the east and south that has encountered stiff Russian resistance.

"Avdiivka. We are holding our ground. It is Ukrainian courage and unity that will determine how this war will end," Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app alongside photos of Ukrainian troops and of Avdiivka's entrance sign.

Ukrainian Special Operations Forces said Kyiv's troops had "foiled the plans of the crazed enemy, repelled all attacks and held their positions".

Vitaliy Barabash, head of the city military administration, told Ukrainian television: "The enemy does not stop storming, they come from all directions."

Avdiivka is home to a big coking plant in the southwest of the Donetsk region and lies just northwest of the Russian-held city of Donetsk.

It has become a symbol of resistance, holding out against Russian troops who invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and helping ensure Moscow has been unable to gain full control of the region even though it says it has annexed it.

Ukrainian forces had been defending Avdiivka since long before last year's full-scale invasion, holding the line against Russian-backed militants who took control of territory in east Ukraine in 2014 after Russian forces seized Crimea.

Just over 1,600 residents out of a pre-war population of 32,000 remain in Avdiivka, but constant shelling rules out an organised evacuation, Barabash said.

LARGE OFFENSIVE

The attack on Avdiivka is one of the few big offensives Moscow has launched in months as its troops focus on holding back Kyiv's counteroffensive, which has made slow progress through vast Russian minefields and heavily fortified trenches.

Russia's Defence Ministry said its forces had inflicted damage on Ukrainian forces in areas including Avdiivka but gave few details.

Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine's southern group of forces, said Russia saw Avdiivka as an opportunity to win a significant victory and "turn the tide of fighting".

"Today the capture or encirclement of Avdiivka is probably the most it can achieve at this stage," he said.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), an American non-profit research group and think-tank, said geolocated footage showed Russia had advanced in some villages southwest and northwest of Avdiivka this week.

But encircling Avdiivka was likely to require more forces than Russia has committed to its offensive, it said.

Andriy Yermak, the head of the president's office, said Russia's attacks appeared designed to draw Ukrainian soldiers from fighting on other fronts, though he did not mention Avdiivka specifically.

Russia has also intensified air strikes on Danube River ports in the southern Odesa region in recent weeks, attacking Kyiv's main route for food exports since Moscow quit a deal allowing shipments via the Black Sea in July.

In the latest overnight attacks, a military spokesperson said a grain storage facility had been hit in the Odesa region. She said some grain had been damaged but did not say how much.

In other fighting, Ukraine said it had thwarted an attempt overnight by a Russian eight-member saboteur group to cross its northeastern border in the Sumy region.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces wipe out Ukrainian electronic warfare station, ammo depot in Kherson area

Russian forces destroyed an electronic warfare station and an ammunition depot of the Ukrainian army in the Kherson area, eliminating roughly 50 enemy troops over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.

"The following targets were destroyed: an electronic warfare station and an ammunition depot near the town of Berislav in the Kherson Region," the ministry said in a statement.

The Ukrainian military lost as many as 50 personnel, 11 motor vehicles and a D-30 howitzer in the Kherson area over the past 24 hours as a result of damage inflicted on the enemy by firepower, the ministry said.

Russian forces repulse seven Ukrainian counterattacks in Kupyansk area over past day

Russian forces repulsed seven Ukrainian army counterattacks in the Kupyansk area over the past day, the ministry reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, units of the western battlegroup supported by aircraft, artillery and heavy flamethrower fires repulsed in their active operations seven counterattacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian army’s 4th tank, 14th, 32nd and 115th mechanized brigades in areas near the settlements of Sinkovka and Ivanovka in the Kharkov Region and Makeyevka in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the ministry said.

Russian forces also inflicted damage on manpower and military hardware of the Ukrainian army’s 14th mechanized and 103rd territorial defense brigades near the town of Kupyansk and the settlement of Berestovoye in the Kharkov Region, the ministry added.

Russian forces destroy 105 Ukrainian troops in Kupyansk area over past day

Russian forces destroyed roughly 105 Ukrainian troops in the Kupyansk area over the past day, the ministry reported.

"As many as 105 Ukrainian personnel, a tank, two motor vehicles, a Polish-made Krab self-propelled artillery system, a US-manufactured M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzer and a D-30 gun were destroyed," the ministry said.

Reuters/RT

This is the moment the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu always feared with great anxiety. Yet when Hamas launched a deadly attack on Southern Israeli border towns in the early hours of October 7, Bibi and Israel’s elite security forces were unprepared. 

In a bizarre fabrication intended to complete Bibi’s humiliation a few days into the war, social media claimed, falsely, that an antisemitic crow had given the victory to the Palestinians in a mystic moment of avian fury.

The truth is more nuanced and complicated. After over five decades of bloody conflicts, the Israeli-Palestinian war has not produced winners or losers. Only a cycle of senseless violence that appears totally avoidable to everyone except the combatants and those who occasionally use them for their proxy war.

The current war, which Hamas claimed was to avenge Israeli attacks on the Al Aqsa Mosque, is one of the bloodiest in a long time, but will not produce a result different from all the rest.

Bibi’s war? 

In the popular imagination, no thanks to the Israeli left-wing press, Bibi is a warmonger. The popular view is that he will make war even when peace would cost him nothing, to gratify his anti-Palestinian obsession and deflect from his ruthless control of power and domestic woes. An omen of his just desserts was summed up by the video of a crow tearing up an Israeli flag from a pole on a building in the occupied territories. It didn’t matter that it was an old video which had gone viral nearly six months before the recent outbreak of hostilities. All is fair in war.

Bibi can hardly escape some responsibility for the present state of affairs in the Middle East. After 35 years of being a part of the Israeli political establishment and 16 years as Prime Minister, it is fair to say that if he genuinely wanted a different outcome in Israeli-Palestine relations, there would be no need for the parable of the crow to achieve one. 

Within the first four days, the current conflict claimed over 1,500 lives on both sides, with thousands more injured or displaced, and communities leveled in the most brutal ways. In figures that seem very conservative, the UN reports that about 6,400 Palestinians and 300 Israelis have been killed in the conflict since 2008. And that is discounting casualties in the ongoing clashes.

Anatomy of anger 

But every story has at least two sides. While the world struggles for a ceasefire to bring relief to millions of innocent victims trapped in this conflict and hopefully, drag the parties back to the forlorn two-state road map for peace, those who want Bibi’s head on a platter might also do well to hear his side of the story. 

Perhaps he might never have been prime minister or he might have been a different one if his brother, Yonathan, had not been brutally killed in 1976 in Entebbe when Yonathan led Israeli special forces to rescue mostly Jewish passengers who were taken hostage and their plane hijacked to Uganda by Arab terrorists. Bibi was only 27-years-old then. 

Perhaps he might not have been prime minister or he might have been a different one, if Egypt, Syria and Jordan did not join hands in a single-minded pledge to wipe out Israel in the Six Day War in 1967 or in Yom Kippur six years later. Israel has mended fences with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and a number of other Arab countries since, but one or two old foes in the region have become implacable enemies, too.  

Perhaps Bibi might never have been a prime minister or he might have been a different one altogether, if the Palestinian leadership from Yasser Arafat’s PLO to the current leaders of Hamas were not sworn to the destruction of Israel, at all costs. Sadly, the PLO has either become irrelevant or at best is playing second fiddle to Hamas, while the chaos in Lebanon has given Hezbollah free rein. 

Is it about Gaza? 

If the Israeli occupation of Gaza was its worst crime all these years, then Ariel Sharon’s withdrawal from there in 2005, in defiance of Bibi and other doubters at the time, might have changed the course of that region’s history. Maybe it might even have forestalled Bibi’s emergence as prime minister many years later. Unfortunately, what Bibi said then, that withdrawing to escape terror is inviting terror to chase you, appears to have been proved right. 

Author and syndicated columnist, Jonathan Power, holds a clearly different view, of course. In an article entitled, “Government supporters in Israel are dangerously ignorant of their own history,” he suggests that the same painful memories that radicalised Bibi also radicalised a significant number of five million Palestinians over the years, admonishing those who always talk about the blood libel and the Holocaust not to also forget biblical “genocides” committed by Moses on the journey to the Promised Land or the kindness of Muslim Turks or medieval Spain.

Who owns the land? This is where Bibi’s story gets even more interesting. In his book, Bibi: My story, he accuses an Arab Knesset member of twisting historical facts, in answering the question. 

“The first thousand years or so,” he writes, “are covered in the Bible, and are attested to by archeological and the historical records of other contemporaneous peoples.”

He traces the history of the Jews from Ur in the Chaldeans through Abraham’s burial in a cave he bought in Hebron, to Egypt and from there to the wilderness where the children of Israel received a moral code that would change the world on their journey to the Promised Land. He recalls the conquests by Joshua and how after Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem, David and his siblings in the battle for control split the realm in two.

“The northern kingdom, Israel, is destroyed, its ten tribes lost to history,” Bibi writes. “The southern kingdom, Judea, is conquered and Solomon’s temple destroyed by the Babylonians by whose rivers the exiled Judeans weep as they remembered Zion.”

He then traces the history of the Jews from Roman rule and the destruction of Herod’s Temple in 70 CE to the times of the Byzantines when the Jews were finally reduced to an insignificant minority. “It is not the Jews who usurp the land from the Arabs,” Bibi writes, “but the Arabs who usurp the land from the Jews…the Jews are the original natives; the Arabs the colonialists.”

Lion and the lamb 

This is a story that is hardly told, understood or believed. And perhaps the course of history might also have been completely different if Britain, which maintained control over Palestine under the League of Nations mandate, had implemented the two-state solution instead of dumping the problem at the doorstep of the UN in 1948. 

Anyone familiar with Britain’s legacy of elegantly concealed systematic violence against its colonies which watered the seed of apartheid in South Africa and created the Kashmiri and Cypriot problems, will not waste time blaming that country for the 75-year-old problem in the Middle East. To adapt Max Siollun, the whole object of British occupation was not only to protect the people from themselves, but also to set them against each other.

Yet, the choices made by Palestinians and Israelis over the years have mostly worsened a bad legacy. Blighted as the region may be from its colonial legacy, it cannot be hostage to the hate or personal injuries of its present elite. After the depredations of Covid-19 and the serious supply chain problems caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, the world could use some respite.

Bibi is right to feel that his worst fears about Gaza and the West Bank under the current Hamas leadership and a weakened PLO was confirmed by the recent unprovoked attack of innocent civilians at a peace concert in Israel. 

But his current objective of “wiping out Hamas” even if it succeeds, which is improbable, is not a guarantee that a worse mutation of Hamas will not rise again in Gaza. A stubborn pursuit of his goal might produce in young, innocent Palestinians today the same sentiments that pushed him to the far right. 

The lion and the lamb must find a common ground in their shared, chequered history.

** Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

Over my career, I've tried to time things perfectly with the goal of entering and exiting opportunities at the right time. 

In some instances, my timing was spot on, and in other instances, I stayed too long or left too early. There are so many variables – alignment, when preparation meets opportunity, and plain old chance. 

Great timing is really about being in the right place at the right time, and below are a few things to think about as relates to timing.

The First-Mover Advantage

Being the first to enter a new market can offer a solid competitive edge. You're potentially ahead of everyone and can blaze a path that shapes the landscape in your favor. 

As an individual, you're on the ground floor in a position to get more equity, opportunity, on-the-job training, and exposure at a career-defining organization that could be a rocket ship. 

When you get there first, you have the opportunity to establish yourself and create a substantial professional and commercial lead. 

The Early Adopter

Correspondingly, by virtue of timing you can become an early adopter. Think about the folks at OpenAI or Uber. They were not only first movers, but their timing of embracing emerging technologies and methodologies positioned them ahead of the pack. 

When you combine first-mover advantage, early adoption, and (being operationally excellent), it makes the bet more viable – as applied both to career choices and entrepreneurship, it can pay dividends.

I've worked with people who were early Meta, Uber, and Google – their careers have soared. I've also worked with founders who've created multiple companies and have seen dramatic opportunities unlock before them because they got there early.  

The pattern I've noticed from working up close with these folks is they have great timing and an innate ability to see what others haven't. They know when to join and, in most instances, when to exit.

Leaving Too Early

One of the most common pitfalls folks face is leaving a company prematurely. It's necessary to strike a balance between recognizing a dead-end situation and the temerity to weather the storm. 

A hasty departure might mean missing out on potential growth, valuable learning experiences, or a bull market. The thing about timing is it shouldn't be knee-jerk. It should be painstakingly deliberate.

Staying Too Long

Head starts are helpful, but leads can be lost – whether a founder or an early-stage employee, staying too long can hinder personal and professional growth. I've seen early employees who steadily moved up the ladder but ended up staying beyond their shelf life. 

It's not that they weren't good but it was no longer a fit – the company changed and so did they. When you begin to see the skills or products undervalued or as obsolete, or how they could be leveraged elsewhere, start planning your exit.

Founders aren't immune from staying too long. They've built the company from scratch, pitched investors, raised several rounds of funds, and introduced products that had a market fit. 

They may be a great founder at the earlier stages, but when a company gets to a certain size founders need to consider whether new leaders are needed to take the company where it needs to go. When a founder doesn't realize this, they hurt the entire enterprise with their presence. 

It takes a great deal of maturity to know when to exit, and that requires constant introspection. When you find yourself stagnating or not adding value the way you once did, it's time to assess whether your continued presence serves your goals. 

Exiting

The decision to exit a business or role shouldn't be taken lightly – there's the competitive landscape, market demand, and even your own capabilities when considering an exit. Similarly, knowing when to exit a business involves understanding the market, and assessing the upsides and downsides.

Balancing Factors  

Timing is a balancing act that represents the totality of reasons why one might choose to start or join a company – impact, market, mission, values or to add value, compensation/benefits, reputation, role/scope, culture, the challenge, opportunity to work with a key team/leader, to deliver a project/program/product, purpose, etc. 

Create a rubric of your why, assign a value to weight each goal, and constantly calibrate to ensure that you're honoring what you set out to do. With each of your goals having a weighted value, you can better ensure that they continually align.

It's about maximizing moments so you can take full advantage before the window closes. Ultimately, in both career and entrepreneurship, timing is a critical factor. Recognizing when the door of opportunity opens or when it's time to leave can be the difference between success and stagnation. 

Inc

The Naira plunged to new lows on the parallel market, as dwindling reserves and dollar inflows have made it difficult for the Central Bank of Nigeria to fund corporate and individual demand for the greenback.

The local currency weakened to 1,045 naira per dollar on Wednesday from 1,015 the previous day, according to Abubakar Mohammed, chief executive officer of Forward Marketing Bureau de Change Ltd., which compiles data on the informal market in Lagos, the commercial capital.

The rate has diverged further from the official rate, which was cited at 765.8 a dollar on the FMDQ OTC trading platform. That showed further pressure remained to devalue after Africa’s most populous nation allowed its currency to trade more freely in June as part of reforms to help attract more foreign investment and boost the economy.

Record Low

Acute forex shortage prompts dollar to trade at parallel market at premium Capital inflows into the West African nation dropped 33% from a year ago to $1 billion in the three months through June, according to the statistics agency, as investors fret over capital controls and a weak economy. External reserves fell to two-year low of $33.2 billion, central bank’s data shows.

“People are looking for dollars, both the seller and the buyer,” said Umar Salisu, a foreign-exchange operator in Lagos. “Until there’s enough supply, you can’t predict the exchange rate.”

Bloomberg

All Progressives Congress (APC) says Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), is looking for “cheap” media attention.

During a press conference, Obi said President Bola Tinubu should reintroduce himself to Nigerians because the debate surrounding his academic records has worsened the country’s image.

Obi said the controversy over Tinubu’s academic records has made foreigners start profiling Nigerians as “fraudsters, certificate forgers or identity thieves”.

But in a statement on Wednesday, Felix Morka, APC spokesperson, said Nigerians who voted for the president know him and were not “groggy” during the polls.

Morka said Tinubu does not need a re-introduction.

“Unwilling to miss out in the orchestrated campaign of calumny against Tinubu over his certificate from the Chicago State University, Obi jumped on the tailboard of Atiku’s bandwagon to satisfy his uncanny and insatiable thirst for cheap media attention, long after his Labour Party had dissociated itself from a bogus call to action by the former Vice-President,” the statement reads.

“In his drivel, Peter Obi demanded that the President reintroduce himself to Nigerians, as though the 8.9 million Nigerians who voted him last February were all groggy when they made their free democratic choice.

“Obi must know that Tinubu does not need a re-introduction. He does not have any identity problem, except the one contrived by the Atikus and Peters of our political firmament.

“The 8.9 million Nigerians who voted him into office were, and remain, aware of his outstanding record and accomplishments as a defender of democracy, freedom, social and economic justice for over three decades.

“Nigerians know Tinubu as a thoroughbred professional and former auditor and treasurer of Mobil Nigeria, now ExxonMobil.”

The APC spokesperson said Tinubu was elected lawfully.

The Cable

Niger's junta has demanded that the top United Nations official there leave the country within 72 hours over accusations that Niger was excluded from the annual U.N. gathering of world leaders in New York last month.

Niger military officers ousted President Mohamed Bazoum in July, suspending the constitution, dissolving all former institutions and declaring General Abdourahamane Tiani as the West African country's new head of state.

In a statement dated Oct. 10, Niger's foreign ministry accused the U.N. of using "underhanded manoeuvres" instigated by France to prevent its full participation in the high-level U.N. General Assembly meeting last month and in subsequent meetings of U.N. agencies that were held in Vienna and in Riyadh.

As a consequence, the government has ordered U.N. resident coordinator Louise Aubin to leave, said the statement.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres deeply regrets the move, said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric, reiterating "the unwavering commitment of the United Nations to stay and deliver for the people of Niger."

"The decision ... hampers the ability of the Organization to effectively carry out its mandates and disrupts the essential work we do for the people of Niger, where 4.3 million are in need of humanitarian assistance, mostly women and children," Dujarric said.

No one from Niger addressed the gathering of world leaders in New York last month after competing claims were made by the junta and Bazoum's government for the country's U.N. seat.

U.N. accreditation issues are dealt with by a nine-member committee, whose members include the United States, China and Russia. The committee is not due to meet until October or November, when it will make a decision.

The French mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the accusation by the junta.

The junta is following a pattern seen in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, which also grew hostile to the U.N. and former colonial ruler France after their militaries seized power. Niger has already kicked out French troopsand the French ambassador.

Burkina Faso expelled its U.N. resident coordinator last year and Mali endeda U.N. peacekeeping mission that had been there for a decade.

All three countries are struggling with an Islamist insurgency that has spiralled in recent years, prompting power grabs by army officers who promised to improve security.

The coups have been accompanied by accusations that France exerts too much influence in its former colonies, and a shift toward Russia as a strategic partner instead. France has denied exercising undue influence.

Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined with a top political rival Wednesday to create a wartime Cabinet to oversee the fight to avenge the gruesome weekend attack by Hamas militants. In the sealed-off Gaza Strip, Palestinian suffering mounted as Israeli bombardment demolished neighborhoods and the only power plant ran out of fuel.

Netanyahu vowed to “crush and destroy” Hamas. “Every Hamas member is a dead man,” he said in a televised address.

The new Cabinet establishes a degree of unity after years of bitterly divisive politics and at a time when the Israeli military appears increasingly likely to launch a ground offensive into Gaza. The war has already claimed at least 2,300 lives on both sides.

The Israeli government is under intense public pressure to topple Hamas after its militants stormed through a border fence Saturday and massacred hundreds of Israelis in their homes, on the streets and at an outdoor music festival.

Netanyahu alleged that the attackers engaged in atrocities, including binding boys and girls and shooting them in the head, burning people alive, raping women and beheading soldiers.

The prime minister’s allegations could not be independently confirmed, and authorities did not immediately offer further details. Rescue workers and witnesses have described horrifying scenes, including the slaughter of elderly people and finding bloody rooms crowded with massacred civilians.

Militants in Gaza are holding an estimated 150 people taken hostage from Israel — soldiers, men, women, children and older adults — and they have fired thousands of rockets into Israel over the past five days.

The Cabinet, which will focus only on issues of war, will be led by Netanyahu; Benny Gantz, a senior opposition figure and former defense minister; and current Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

Still, Israel’s political divisions remain. The country’s chief opposition leader, Yair Lapid, was invited to join the Cabinet but did not immediately respond to the offer. It appeared that the rest of Netanyahu’s existing government partners, a collection of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, would remain in place to handle non-war issues.

Israel’s increasingly destructive airstrikes in Gaza have flattened entire city blocks and left unknown numbers of bodies beneath debris. A ground offensive in Gaza, whose 2.3 million residents are densely packed into a tiny, coastal strip, would likely result in a surge of casualties for fighters on both sides.

Hamas on Wednesday launched a fresh barrage of rockets into Israel aimed at the southern town of Ashkelon.

The UN said late Wednesday the number of people displaced by the airstrikes had soared 30 percent within 24 hours, to 339,000, two-thirds of them crowding into U.N. schools. Others sought shelter in the shrinking number of safe neighborhoods in the strip of land only 40 kilometers (25 miles) long, wedged among Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

After nightfall, Palestinians were plunged into pitch blackness in large parts of Gaza City and elsewhere after the territory’s only power station ran out of fuel and shut down. Only a few lights from private generators still glowed.

Israel on Monday halted the entry of food, water, fuel and medicine into the territory. The sole remaining crossing from Egypt was shut down Tuesday after airstrikes hit nearby.

The Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, has only enough fuel to keep power on for three days, said Matthias Kannes, a Gaza-based official for Doctors Without Borders. The group said the two hospitals it runs in Gaza were running out of surgical equipment, antibiotics, fuel and other supplies.

Ghassan Abu Sitta, a reconstructive surgeon at al-Shifa, said he had 50 patients waiting to go to the operating room.

“We’re already beyond the capacity of the system to cope,” he said. The health system “has the rest of the week before it collapses, not just because of the diesel. All supplies are running short.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent said other hospitals’ generators will run out in five days. Residential buildings, unable to store as much diesel, likely will go dark sooner.

Egypt and international groups have been calling for humanitarian corridors into Gaza. Convoys stood loaded with fuel and food Wednesday on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, but were unable to enter Gaza, an Egyptian security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

In Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, rescue workers and civilians carried men covered with blood and soot toward ambulances after strikes toppled buildings. Streets were left blanketed with metal, chunks of concrete and thick dust.

Medical teams and rescuers struggled to enter other areas where roads were too damaged, including Gaza City’s al-Karama district, where a “large number” were killed or wounded, according to the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. Strikes have killed at least four Red Crescent paramedics, the organization said.

The risk of the war spreading was evident Wednesday after the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at an Israeli military position and claimed to have killed and wounded troops.

The Israeli military confirmed the attack but did not comment on possible casualties. The Israeli army shelled the area in southern Lebanon where the attack was launched.

U.S. President Joe Biden called Saturday’s Hamas attack “the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.”

“This attack was a campaign of pure cruelty, not just hate, but pure cruelty against the Jewish people,” Biden said at a meeting with Jewish community leaders at the White House.

On Tuesday, he warned other countries and armed groups against entering the war. The U.S. is already rushing munitions and military equipment to Israel and has deployed a carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean as deterrence.

In the West Bank, Israeli settlers attacked a village south of Nablus, opening fire on Palestinians and killing three, the territory’s health ministry said. More than two dozen Palestinians have died in fighting in the West Bank since the weekend.

Israel has mobilized 360,000 reservists, massed additional forces near Gaza and evacuated tens of thousands of residents from nearby communities.

Toppling Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, would likely require reoccupying Gaza, at least temporarily. Even then, Hamas has a long history of operating as an underground insurgency in areas controlled by Israel.

Hamas said it launched its attack Saturday because Palestinians’ suffering had become intolerable under unending Israeli military occupation and increasing settlements in the West Bank and a 16-year-long blockade in Gaza.

In the kibbutz of Be’eri near Gaza, Israeli troops were still removing the bodies of dead Hamas militants who stormed the community and killed more than 100 residents, then battled soldiers for nearly three days.

Major General Itai Veruv told visiting journalists that the military found evidence of Hamas militants cutting throats of bound captives, lining up children and killing them and packing 15 teenage girls in a room before throwing a grenade inside.

Shock, grief and demands for vengeance against Hamas are running high in Israel.

In a new tactic, Israel is warning civilians to evacuate whole Gaza neighborhoods, rather than just individual buildings, then leveling large swaths in waves of airstrikes.

Israel’s tone has changed as well. In past conflicts, its military insisted on the precision of strikes in Gaza, trying to ward off criticism over civilian deaths. This time, military briefings emphasize the destruction being wreaked.

Even with the evacuation warnings, Palestinians say some are unable to escape or have nowhere to go, and that entire families have been crushed under rubble.

Other times, strikes come with no notice, survivors say.

“There was no warning or anything,” said Hashem Abu Manea, 58, who lost his 15-year-old daughter, Joanna, when a strike late Tuesday leveled his home in Gaza City.

Israeli airstrikes late Tuesday struck the family house of Mohammed Deif, the shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing, killing his father, brother and at least two other relatives in the southern town of Khan Younis, Hamas official Bassem Naim told The Associated Press. Deif has never been seen in public, and his whereabouts are unknown.

The Israeli military said more than 1,200 people, including 189 soldiers, have been killed in Israel, a staggering toll unseen since the 1973 war with Egypt and Syria that lasted weeks. In Gaza, 1,100 people have been killed, according to authorities there.

Israel says roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed inside Israel, and that hundreds of the dead inside Gaza are Hamas members.

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces launch big push on key eastern Ukraine city

Russian forces were pressing on with a major push on the key eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka on Wednesday after many months of besieging it, Ukrainian military officials said.

The Ukrainian officials said Russian forces had redirected large numbers of troops and equipment to Avdiivka in their largest attack on the town since launching the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Major assaults have been under way since Tuesday.

Russian accounts also indicated the fighting had intensified, saying Moscow's forces had "improved their position in the immediate outskirts around Avdiivka". "It is not quite as heated as yesterday, but the battles are continuing," Vitaliy Barabash, head of the town's administration, told national television, noting about two dozen hits in the town's old district and others in the city centre.

"This is the largest-scale offensive action in our sector since the full-fledged war began."

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed forces said 10 enemy attacks on the town had been repelled.

Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine's southern group of forces, told the television that Russian forces were pressing their attacks "sometimes using infantry and in some areas deploying quite a lot of vehicles into battle".

Most attention in the Russian military's push through the eastern Donbas region has focused for many months on the city of Bakhmut, captured by Moscow troops in May.

But Avdiivka, home to a large coking plant to the southwest in Donetsk region, has been under attack for virtually the same length of time. Much of the town has been reduced to rubble.

Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive in June focusing on two theatres. The aims include securing areas around Bakhmut in order to retake the town and recapturing villages in the south on a drive towards the Sea of Azov to sever a Russian land bridge between positions Moscow holds in the south and east.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other officials acknowledge that the advances, undertaken with the help of Western equipment, have been slower than hoped.

But they dismiss suggestions by Western critics that the counteroffensive is too sluggish and hampered by strategic errors.

** NATO assures Zelenskiy of support even as world's eyes turn to Mideast

NATO members assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday that they would sustain military aid to his country as it braces for another wartime winter, even as Western attention focuses on the fallout from Hamas' attack on Israel.

Defence chiefs issued the assurances as Zelenskiy visited NATO headquarters in Brussels for the first time since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

His visit came against the backdrop not only of violent turmoil in the Middle East but also political turbulence in the U.S. Congress, which has held up approval of aid for Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he was confident that members of the military alliance would continue to support Ukraine as it was in their own security interests.

"We have the capability and the strength to address different challenges at the same time," he added. "We don't have the luxury of choosing only one threat and one challenge."

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin delivered a similar message.

“In terms of our ability to continue to support both the efforts in Ukraine and support the efforts in Israel as well, absolutely, we can do both and we will do both,” Austin told reporters.

After attending a meeting of the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group of some 50 nations that support Kyiv, Zelenskiy welcomed the assurances but acknowledged there was uncertainty.

"My question was ... will your support be less than now?" Zelenskiy told reporters. "The partners say 'no'. But who knows how it will be? I think nobody knows."

Zelenskiy stressed Ukraine's need for more air defence systems - as it braces for Russian attacks on its energy grid through the coldest months of the year - as well as artillery and ammunition to allow its forces to keep fighting in winter.

Ukraine started a counteroffensive over the summer to try to retake territory in the south and east but has so far failed to make major breakthroughs in Russia's network of fortifications and minefields.

"The winter air defence is a significant part of the answer to the question of when this war will end and whether it will end justly for Ukraine," Zelenskiy said.

FRESH PLEDGES

Stoltenberg pointed to a series of fresh pledges of military aid to show NATO members remained committed to Kyiv.

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Austin announced a new $200 million defence package for Ukraine on Wednesday, including air defence munitions and weapons to counter Russian drones.

Washington has provided $44 billion to supply Kyiv with dozens of tanks, thousands of rockets and millions of rounds of ammunition, but support is falling among Americans of both main political parties.

On the eve of the meeting, Germany announced a new "winter package"worth around 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) that includes new air defence systems, while a UK-led group of countries announced help with mine-clearing.

Zelenskiy also secured promises of F-16 fighter jets from Denmark and Belgium, though the latter were slated for delivery in 2025.

He made explicit comparisons between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

"Terrorists like Putin or like Hamas seek to hold free and democratic nations as hostages and they want power," he said.

Russia has denied targeting civilians and has blamed the West for the war in Ukraine, saying it had no choice but to launch what it calls a "special military operation" there. It describes as baseless suggestions from Ukraine that Moscow is seeking to inflame the situation in the Middle East.

Hamas, which calls for Israel's destruction, says its attack was justified by the plight of Gaza under a 16-year-old blockade and the deadliest Israeli crackdown for years in the occupied West Bank.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Support not ‘indefinite’, White House tells Ukraine

The US is running out of money for Ukraine unless Congress approves additional funding, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.

“In the near term, we’ve got appropriations and authorities for both Ukraine and for Israel,” Kirby said during the daily press briefing. “But you don’t want to be trying to bake in long-term support when you’re at the end of the rope.”

“And in Ukraine, on the Ukraine funding, we’re coming near to the end of the rope,” he added. “Today we announced $200 million, and we’ll keep that aid going as long as we can, but it’s not going to be indefinite.”

Asked to define “near term,” Kirby said he could not point to a specific date, because that depended on how quickly Ukraine and Israel expended their equipment and ammunition “or what the need is and what our ability to do it is.”

On Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesperson assured reporters that the US had the ability to “continue our support both to Ukraine, Israel, and maintain our own global readiness.”

Kirby, however, admitted that the money previously appropriated for Ukraine by Congress is “not going to last forever” and that the lawmakers needed to approve more and soon.

“The sooner there’s a speaker of the House, obviously, the more comfortable we’ll all be in terms of being able to support Israel and Ukraine,” he said.

House of Representatives has not had a speaker since last Tuesday, when Kevin McCarthy  became the first-ever speaker to be ousted in a House vote, over an alleged secret deal with the White House to approve more Ukraine funding. Several Republicans led the charge against their California colleague, backed by all of the minority Democrats. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the Republican nominee to succeed McCarthy, has been supportive of funding Ukraine in the past.

Since February 2022, when the conflict with Russia escalated, the US has channeled almost $44 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine, as well as billions more in cash, humanitarian and economic assistance.

** Zelensky ‘starting to annoy’ everyone in US, Europe, says Kremlin spokesman

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has found himself in a rather challenging situation, as he is getting on the nerves of everyone in the United States and Europe, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with the Moscow. The Kremlin. Putin TV program, an excerpt of which was posted on anchor Pavel Zarubin’s Telegram channel.

"Zelensky is in a rather tricky position. First of all, he is starting to touch a nerve. He is starting to annoy everyone both in America and Europe," Peskov said.

"People are starting to wonder: What is this man spending our money on if Ukraine is a country most famous for, you know, being such an oasis of corruption on Earth?" the Kremlin spokesman said.

"Certainly, nobody likes it, and this dissatisfaction with Zelensky will grow," Peskov concluded, pointing out that the Ukrainian president feels this and "is beginning to crack."

Moreover, the Kremlin spokesman continued, "he [Zelensky] still has that professional greed: How could the weapons promised to me be given to Israel?"

"That is why things are not so easy for him. Things are not so easy. Traditionally, they are already spoiled and are used to this sort of mentorship. We will wait and see how [the situation] unfolds from here," the Russian presidential spokesman added.

Reuters/RT/Tass