🇮🇱🇵🇸 Latest updates on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict:

▪️The death toll from Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip since October 7 has risen to 15,899, with 42,000 injured, the enclave's Ministry of Health reported;

▪️Israel will continue to allow humanitarian aid, fuel into Gaza Strip in same volumes that before ceasefire, Israeli Defense Ministry to Sputnik;

▪️Hamas' military wing says it launched a rocket attack on Tel Aviv in response to shelling of civilians in Gaza;

▪️IDF says safe corridor in central Gaza has become a battlefield and calls on the population to evacuate along the coast;

▪️Military wing of Hamas says it struck five Israeli tanks and five infantry fighting vehicles in eastern Gaza.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

An escalation of tensions in the Red Sea is a warning signal to Israel and the US, say Beirut-based scholar Dr. Lorenzo Trombetta and Ambassador Ezzat Saad, director of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs.

"I believe that these developments in the Red Sea region come within a broader context of threats from armed groups and forces sympathetic with the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank," Saad tells Sputnik.

"This route is becoming more dangerous. But it doesn't mean that the route is an open theater to war," Trombetta notes.

On Sunday, three commercial vessels were subjected to a Houthi missile attack in the Red Sea.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇺🇸 WH to drain Ukraine funding dry by year end without congressional action

The White House will exhaust the money earmarked to provide more weapons to Ukraine “without congressional action” by the end of this year, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young has warned.

In a letter to House and Senate leaders, she pointed out that “Cutting off the flow of US weapons and equipment will kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield, not only putting at risk the gains Ukraine has made, but increasing the likelihood of Russian military victories.”

Young stated that nearly all of the $111 billion, which was allotted by Congress to assist Ukraine, had already been utilized, with the majority of the funds directed towards military support for the Kiev regime.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

A shipment of BLU-109 “bunker buster” bombs from the United States may help Israeli forces to better target the extensive network of Hamas’ underground communications underneath the Gaza Strip.

These 2,000-pound (907 kilogram) bombs are specifically designed to penetrate deep underground before exploding and may potentially wreak havoc upon whatever underground assets Hamas has in the Palestinian enclave.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The Pentagon wants weaponsmakers to ramp up production of counter-drone weapons. Former Pentagon analyst Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski said the military-industrial complex can't do that for new tech.

“When you follow the money, both in terms of Congressional enthusiasm to fund this or that, and Pentagon/corporate interest in long term growth and steadiness, you can see what falls through the cracks: small munitions in mass numbers and highly experimental technologies.”

“The first money that is spent profits the corporations, their pay and bonuses, and upgrades to infrastructure and manpower. Then you see the output increase, and as many of these wars … are relatively short-lived, by the time the infrastructure and manpower improvements are in place, the demand is less urgent. The system then lobbies for the longer run, and cost plus contracts for the next time.”

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇦🇺 Australia is working to develop a "top secret cloud initiative" that will be "interoperable" with US and UK intelligence agencies, its director-general of national intelligence said Monday.

"In Australia, we are working very hard on a top-secret cloud initiative...what that will do is obviously transform how we do our work as agencies but also it'll open up a shared collaborative space," Andrew Shearer said at a talk hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Shearer added that the initiative would make Australia "interoperable" with the US and UK intelligence communities. He said that the project was being designed with "interoperability with our most important partners right from the start."

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Police officers injured due to building explosion in Arlington county

🗣"As officers were attempting to execute a search warrant at the residence, the suspect discharged several rounds inside the home. Subsequently, an explosion occurred at the residence," police said, adding that "officers on scene reported minor injuries with no one transported to the hospital."

Police added that the Arlington County Fire Department is attempting to extinguish the fire.

It was reported later that a large number of police officers are at the scene of the incident, and the roads to the scene are blocked.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 Russian air defense destroys, intercepts 35 Ukrainian drones

"Tonight, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by fixed-wing drones on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation was stopped. 22 Ukrainian drones were destroyed by air defense systems and another 13 were intercepted over the Sea of ​​Azov and the territory of the Republic of Crimea," Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram.

Ukraine has been sending drones into Russian territory on the regular basis since it launched a counteroffensive attempt in early June. In August UN officials slammed this move and stressed that they strongly condemn targeting civilian infrastructure.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇺🇸 FBI interviewed priest, choir director in targeting Catholic Church, US House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government said.

The panel began investigating whistleblower allegations of an FBI memorandum that proposed infiltrating the traditional Catholic community as a form of threat mitigation against potential violent extremism.

"The Committee and Select Subcommittee’s oversight shows that the FBI abused its counterterrorism tools to target Catholic Americans as potential domestic terrorists," the panel said, adding that the FBI targeted anti-abortion Catholics and those who believe in biology-based gender distinctions as potential domestic terrorists.

The FBI had no legitimate basis for inserting federal law enforcement into traditional Catholic communities, as per the report.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 Russian Airborne FPV drones destroyed Ukrainian infantry near Artemovsk (Bakhmut)

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇺🇸🤔 "Do you want to rack up trillions more in debt & send our sons and daughters to die fighting someone else’s war in places like Ukraine and the Middle East?" Vivek Ramaswamy, US presidential candidate, said on X, reflecting on the foreign policy drawbacks of the previous administrations.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

"I'm not helping Ukraine until we help ourselves," Lindsey Graham said.

Republican Senator pointed out that he would not vote for any aid to Ukraine until "we secure our own border."

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 The Russian MLRS Grad crew destroyed a US-made M777 howitzer on the right bank of the Dnepr. They also prevented a Ukrainian landing force from moving to the left bank in the Kherson region.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Iran's president will visit Moscow on Thursday to discuss bilateral issues and Palestine in a meeting with Putin, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

The stalemate at the front has intensified the struggle within Ukraine for Zelensky's place, writes the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

Until the summer there was a consensus between the authorities and the opposition that presidential elections should not be held, the newspaper notes, adding that now, "against the background of paralysis at the front," some candidates are beginning to take steps to force Zelensky to call them.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia this week for talks, according to Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the Russian leader.

"This will be a working visit, negotiations primarily with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, before that we will fly to the Emirates, there will also be a working visit, I hope there will also be very useful negotiations, which we consider extremely important," Ushakov explained to Life.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹💥The Guards tank formation of the Russian forces has disrupted the rotation of Ukrainian troops in the Krasny Liman region.

Russian tank soldiers engage in daily combat operations to destroy units and positions of Ukrainian nationalists. Through continuous disruptive fire on the enemy, the T-80BV M tank crews exhaust Ukrainian troops, hinder the supply of ammunition, impede the rest of the forces on duty, and hamper the restoration and retrofitting of positions on the line of contact.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺 Latest statements of the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov:

▪️ On the impact of OPEC+ on the situation in the oil market: sometimes the effect is delayed, coordination will continue;

▪️ On Putin's nomination for the noscript of "Man of the Year" by the Times: it is difficult to overestimate the role of the President of Russia, but this nomination does not matter;

▪️Putin will visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. The Middle East settlement will also be discussed;

▪️The Iranian president will indeed arrive in Moscow on Thursday, and bilateral talks will take place, Peskov confirmed.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

❗️As noted by the Kremlin, issues of bilateral relations & interaction in the oil market as well as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are on the agenda to be discussed.

Subscribe to @SputnikInt

WATCH LIVE: Lavrov attends Foreign Ministers of the Caspian states meeting

👉 Follow the live here or on Sputnik's website