World roundup: October 20 2023

Stories from Israel-Palestine, Sudan, Russia, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

October 20, 1448: The Second Battle of Kosovo ends

October 20, 1962: Chinese forces attack India in two disputed border regions—Ladakh in the west and the Tibet-Arunachal Pradesh region in the east, beginning the month-long Sino-Indian War. The conflict ended with a decisive Chinese victory that stabilized the still poorly defined Chinese-Indian border on Beijing’s terms.

October 20, 2011: With the tide of Libya’s civil war having turned decisively against him, thanks in no small measure to NATO’s intervention, a fleeing Muammar Gaddafi is captured by rebels west of the city of Sirte and summarily executed. This of course brought the war to a decisive conclu-just kidding. Had you there for a minute, didn’t I?

MIDDLE EAST

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

With your indulgence I’m going to try to keep today’s roundup brief, so here are the Israel-Palestine stories I’ve come across:

• Humanitarian aid that was at least 24 hours away from getting to anyone in Gaza on Thursday remained at least 24 hours away from getting to anyone in Gaza on Friday. Luckily it’s not like there’s a humanitarian catastrophe happening in Gaza right now or else these continued delays would be intolerably cruel. The plan at present is still to allow a single and pitifully inadequate shipment of aid through the Rafah checkpoint from Sinai, with the hope being that the Israeli government will allow additional shipments moving forward. The Israelis are not going to stop their bombing campaign while these deliveries are taking place and they’re not allowing fuel into Gaza as part of this effort, which means that after the aid gets to the Gazan side of the checkpoint it’s probably going to stay there. Gazans who aren’t actively dying of sickness, hunger, and/or dehydration will most likely have to come to the aid, dodging ordinance as they do.