The Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday’s events as they happen.
Saudi Arabia hosts emergency meetings of Arab League and Muslim bloc, with focus on Gaza
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Arab leaders and Iran’s president are in the Saudi capital today for summits expected to underscore demands that Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas end before the violence draws in other countries.
The emergency meetings of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation comes after Hamas terrorists’ bloody October 7 attacks that Israeli officials say left about 1,200 people dead and around 240 taken hostage.
Israel’s subsequent aerial and ground offensive has killed more than 11,000 people, mostly civilians and many of them children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures cannot be verified independently and are believed to also include terrorists and civilians killed by misfired rockets.
Aid groups have joined pleas for a ceasefire, warning of a humanitarian “catastrophe” in Gaza, where food, water and medicine are in short supply.
The Arab League aims to demonstrate “how the Arabs will move on the international scene to stop the aggression, support Palestine and its people, condemn the Israeli occupation, and hold it accountable for its crimes,” the bloc’s assistant secretary-general, Hossam Zaki, said this week.
But terror group Palestinian Islamic Jihad on Friday said it did not “expect anything” from the meeting, criticizing Arab leaders for the delay.
UK police warn of ‘challenging and tense weekend’ as Palestinian supporters to march in London
LONDON — Almost 2,000 police officers will be on duty today when more than 100,000 pro-Palestinian supporters are expected to march through London to protest Israel over the war in Gaza against Hamas, with extra powers in place to protect landmarks honoring Britain’s war dead.
Pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel marches have been held in the UK capital over recent weekends, with police making almost 100 arrests for offenses including supporting banned organizations and serious hate crimes.
But today’s march promises to be more fraught as it coincides with Armistice Day, which commemorates those who have died in conflict since World War I.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a late plea for peaceful demonstrations
“It is because of those who fought for this country and for the freedom we cherish that those who wish to protest can do so, but they must do so respectfully and peacefully,” Sunak said in a statement released last night.
It will be a “particularly challenging and tense weekend,” Laurence Taylor, the Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner leading Saturday’s operation, told a media briefing yesterday.
He estimated that more than 100,000 people would be at the march, with organizers changing the route to ensure it will not pass any landmark memorials.
However, police said that previous events had seen “small groups break away” and that “their behavior has been escalating and becoming more violent.”
As a result, metal barriers will be placed around the area containing the most significant memorials, with police able to arrest any marchers attempting to gather there.
The Cenotaph memorial — the focal point of commemorations — will have a constant police presence until the conclusion of remembrance events on Sunday, said Scotland Yard.
Fighting reported in Gaza overnight as Israeli troops near hospital used as Hamas HQ
Palestinian media outlets report fighting overnight between Israeli forces and terrorists in Gaza Strip, including in the vicinity of Shifa Hospital, where the Hamas terror group allegedly maintains a key command center.