Israel-Hamas protests LIVE: Met to police convoys bringing protesters to London through Jewish areas, more than 500,000 expected at pro-Palestine demo, US puts pressure on Israel as Gaza death toll passes 11,000
A million will march in London: Leader of pro-Palestine demo says fleets of coaches from across UK are heading to capital as Met police stand guard at Cenotaph for first time ever
Thousands of people were headed to London on Saturday from all over the UK to march in solidarity with the people of Palestine as the Met Police braces for a huge day of protests on Armistice Day.
Leaders of the demonstration claimed entire fleets of coaches were driving to the capital as the Met Police doubled the number of officers on the streets and set up an exclusion zone around the Cenotaph.
Throughout the weekend, almost 2,000 officers from the Met and other UK forces will be on duty across central London for what is the biggest Remembrance security operation ever to take place.
Scotland Yard has placed the Cenotaph, Britain’s most hallowed war memorial, under 24-hour police guard, with officers, barriers and police vehicles set to surround the perimeter until Sunday.
The pro-Palestine march route does not go within a mile of the Cenotaph, but police fear some members of fringe groups may try and make their own way to the memorial. Organisers say up to a million people are expected to attend.
Gaza's largest hospital stops operations as power runs out
Operations have been completely suspended at the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza after it ran out of fuel completely, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
‘As a result, one newborn baby died inside the incubator, where there are 45 babies,’ Ashraf Al-Qidra, the spokesman for the Health Ministry told Reuters.
Al Shifa is Gaza’s biggest hospital and has been home to many Palestinians seeking safety since the bombardment began.
Israel believes Hamas has an elaborate headquarters based under the hosptial – claims the hospital denies.
Israeli forces fully encircled the hospital on Saturday morning, preventing ambulances from entering or leaving the facility.
Al Jazeera reported this morning that Israeli snipers and artillery were targeting anyone seen leaving the hospital.
People stand outside the emergency ward of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on November 10, 2023, amid ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement.
Iranian President calls for 'action' in Gaza ahead of summit in Saudi Arabia
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday that the time had come for action over the conflict in Gaza rather than talk as he headed to Saudi Arabia to attend a summit on the war between Israel and Hamas militants.
‘Gaza is not an arena for words. It should be for action,’ Raisi said at Tehran airport before departing for the summit of Arab and Islamic nations in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.
‘Today, the unity of the Islamic countries is very important,’ he added.
It is the first visit to Saudi Arabia by an Iranian head of state since Tehran and Riyadh ended years of hostility under a China-brokered deal in March.
‘The summit will send a strong message to warmongers in the region and result in the cessation of war crimes in Palestine,’ Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who is accompanying Raisi, was quoted as saying by the Padolat government website.
‘America says it doesn’t want an expansion of the war and has sent messages to Iran and several countries [to this effect]. But these statements are not consistent with America’s actions,’ Raisi said in the televised comments at Tehran airport.
‘The war machine in Gaza is in the hands of America, which is preventing a ceasefire in Gaza and expanding the war. The world must see the true face of America,’ Raisi said.
President Ebrahim Raisi speaking prior to boarding an aircraft departing from Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport to Saudi Arabia to attend a summit
With Reuters
Suella remains under fire over police bias allegations ahead of November 11 demonstrations
Home Secretary Suella Braverman remains under fire from all sides after her allegations of bias were disowned by Downing Street and criticised by the Police Federation.
The allegations of police bias, made by the Home Secretary in The Times, followed pressure from senior Tories on Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to ban a pro-Palestinian demonstration on Saturday.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected take to the streets of London for the march, which coincides with Armistice Day.
In her opinion piece, Mrs Braverman had written that ‘pro-Palestinian mobs’ are ‘largely ignored, even when clearly breaking the law’, while aggressive right-wing protesters are met with a stern response by officers, whom she accused of ‘double standards’.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt distanced himself from her comments, signalling Cabinet unease by telling reporters ‘the words that she used are not words that I myself would have used’.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said the Prime Minister ‘has confidence’ in Mrs Braverman, but did not rule out a Cabinet reshuffle.
Suella Braverman leaving her house on Friday, November 10
While Steve Hartshorn, national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales – which represents rank and file officers, said it was unacceptable for the Home Secretary ‘to publicly attempt to tamper with the operational independence of policing’.
In a statement, Mr Hartshorn said that ‘policing must be free of politics’.
‘It is entirely reasonable that the Home Secretary might raise concerns with senior police leaders in private, it is unacceptable to publicly attempt to tamper with the operational independence of policing,’ he said.
‘Policing must be free of politics. Operational independence is a key pillar of UK policing and must be respected.
‘Policing does not comment on political manoeuvrings, and we expect to be able to carry out our duties without political interference.’
Amid the criticism, Mrs Braverman gave the police her ‘full backing’ at a meeting with Sir Mark on Friday, a source close to the Home Secretary said.
The officer in charge of policing London during Saturday’s protest told the PA news agency that the force has been ‘clear’ on how it polices protests.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said: ‘Our job is to ensure that we police without fear or favour, that we balance the rights of everybody, be that protesters, counter protesters, or people living or coming into London.
‘And our job this weekend is to ensure that people are kept safe and that is what my focus is on.’
With PA
Inside the Met's huge Armistice Day operation: Force doubles officers and sets up exclusion zone around the Cenotaph as pro-Palestine activists across the UK organise buses to head to London for 'Million March' – and far-right groups vow 'we'll be waiting'
The Met Police has doubled the number of officers on the streets and set up an exclusion zone around the Cenotaph – as the force braces itself for pro-Palestine activists to descend on London for a ‘Million March’ on Armistice Day.
Throughout the weekend, almost 2,000 officers from the Met and other UK forces will be on duty across central London for what is the biggest Remembrance security operation ever to take place.
Scotland Yard has been forced to place the Cenotaph, Britain’s most hallowed war memorial, under 24-hour police guard for the first time ever, with officers, barriers and police vehicles set to surround the perimeter until Sunday.
French President urges Israeli restraint amid bombardment of civilians in Gaza
French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israel to stop bombing and killing civilians in Gaza.
Mr Macron called for a humanitarian ceasefire in the region.
‘I think there is no justification precisely to attack civilians,’ Mr Macron told the BBC.
‘De facto, today civilians are bombed, de facto, there’s babies, there’s ladies, there’s old people are bombed and killed.
‘There is no reason for that and no legitimacy. So we do urge Israel to stop’
Asked if he was disappointed the United States and the UK were not joining him in a call for ceasefire, he said: ‘No, I hope they will’.
‘I think it is very important to see the whole story, but I think this is the only solution we have, this ceasefire,’ he said.
Since Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, Gaza officials said the territory’s death toll has surpassed 11,000 while more than 100,000 Palestinians have fled south over the past two days, according to Israel.
Mr Macron refused to say whether he believes Israel has broken international law.
Mr Macron said: ‘We do recognise the right (for Israel) to protect themselves. And one month after this terrorist attack I think it would be not the right way to deal with a partner and a friend, just to say you will be condemned and you are guilty.’
Emannuel Macron criticises Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip speaking to the BBC
With PA
Growing global calls for Israeli restraint in Gaza war as Palestinian death toll passes 11,000
Israel faced mounting international pressure, including from the United States, to do more to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza as the death toll rose and fighting intensified near hospitals.
The number of Palestinians killed during the bombardment of the coastal enclave in the past five weeks rose above 11,000, according to Gaza health officials, as Israeli forces waged war on Hamas militants who carried out the deadly Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel.
In his strongest comments to date on the plight of civilians caught in the cross-fire, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on a visit to India on Friday: ‘Far too many Palestinians have been killed; far too many have suffered these past weeks.’
But Blinken reaffirmed U.S. support for Israel’s campaign to ensure that Gaza can no longer be used ‘as a platform for launching terrorism’.
Smoke rises over Gaza amid an Israeli bombardment, November 11 2023
French President Emmanuel Macron, in a BBC interview published late on Friday, also said Israel must stop bombing Gaza and killing civilians.
France, he said, ‘clearly condemns’ the ‘terrorist’ actions of Hamas, but that while recognising Israel’s right to protect itself.
‘We do urge them to stop this bombing,’ Macron said.
In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said world leaders should be condemning Hamas, and not Israel. ‘These crimes that Hamas (is) committing today in Gaza will be committed tomorrow in Paris, New York and anywhere in the world,’ Netanyahu said.
Israel has said that Hamas militants, who are holding as many as 240 hostages of different nationalities taken in last month’s attack, would exploit a truce to regroup if there were a ceasefire.
Saudi Arabia was set to host an extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit on Saturday. The Saudi foreign ministry said ‘countries feel the need to unify efforts and come out with a unified collective position’.
Children react during the funeral of the Faojo family, killed in Israeli bombing on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 11
With Reuters
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