PROGRAMMING NOTE #1: A scratchy throat is going to prevent me from recording tonight’s voiceover. Hopefully scratchy is as far as it will get. Those who need it should be able to use the text-to-voice feature in the Substack app.
PROGRAMMING NOTE #2: There is a strong possibility that I will be unable to write tomorrow’s newsletter (it’s shaping up to be a very busy day). As usual if necessary I will roll things over into Wednesday’s roundup.
TODAY IN HISTORY
October 19, 1469: Prince Ferdinand of Aragon marries Infanta Isabella of Castile in the wedding that would eventually unite those two kingdoms and give birth to the nation of Spain.
October 19, 1781: The Siege of Yorktown ends with a French-American victory over the British army under Lord Charles Cornwallis. The surrender of an entire British army marked the effective end of the American Revolution.
MIDDLE EAST
ISRAEL-PALESTINE
The Israeli military (IDF) killed at least five people in multiple incidents across Gaza on Monday, including two children killed in a drone strike in the Khan Younis area. On the humanitarian front, the Israeli government announced on Monday that it is once again allowing commercial shipments into Gaza, roughly a week after it suspended those shipments amid what it claimed was a tax dispute between Palestinian merchants and the territorial government. It seems that Hamas officials dropped their 10,000 shekel (roughly US$3225) per truck payment requirement, which the group had characterized as a voluntary contribution to a relief fund. While this should help bring additional supplies into the territory it comes as the United Nations World Food Program is cutting monthly food support to some 500,000 people in Gaza due to funding shortages.
