JOHN McEVOY | Two RAF surveillance planes have flown over the eastern Mediterranean during the ceasefire, as campaigners demand inquiry into UK intelligence sharing with Israel. | Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) has dispatched two surveillance planes towards Gaza since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began, Declassified can reveal. Both flights took place while hostages were in the process of being exchanged. ■ The Foreign Office says the surveillance aircraft are “unarmed” and “tasked solely to locate hostages”, raising serious questions about why spy planes are still being sent to the region while hostages are being released. ■ Zaki Sarraf, a legal officer at the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) told Declassified:

💬 “For months, the government has said that RAF planes flying around Gaza are used solely for locating hostages, so why are these flights still happening now that hostilities have paused?”

The first spy flight departed from RAF Akrotiri, Britain’s airbase in Cyprus, at 15:32 and returned at 20:59 local time on 19 January – the day the ceasefire went into effect. ■ The aircraft turned off its transponders over the eastern Mediterranean, raising questions about precisely what it was doing in the air while the last remaining British hostage, Emily Damari, was being released by Hamas.

The lsraeli aggression on Jenin continues for the 8th day in a row. pic.twitter.com/ERIGyAf1X5

— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza) January 28, 2025

■ Palestinians in northern Gaza return home to rubble and destruction (Antiwar)
■ Long walk home: Palestinians march on foot to north Gaza (Al Jazeera)

ING | The Ukrainian authorities and NATO countries are discussing sending from 40 to 200 thousand Western troops to the front line as part of a peacekeeping mission. Some leaders of the leading European powers have already supported this idea to one degree or another. Whether Moscow will agree is in the RIA Novosti article.

■ "Нет причин останавливаться". НАТО формирует армию против России (РИА Новости)

According to him, former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was "pushing so hard for a real war" between the US and Russia in his last two months in office | US journalist Tucker Carlson believes that the US authorities tried to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin during Joe Biden's presidency. ● "The Biden administration did try to kill Putin," he told his colleague Matt Taibbi. The journalist did not provide any details or arguments to back his version. ● According to him, former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was "pushing so hard for a real war" between the US and Russia in his last two months in office.

■ Tucker Carlson Says Blinken Did Everything to Accelerate War Between US, Russia (Sputnik)
■ Russian special services take all measures to ensure president’s safety — Kremlin (TASS)