Hamas Archives - KahawaTungu https://kahawatungu.com/tag/hamas/ Bitter! Sweet! Mon, 06 Jan 2025 12:49:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://kahawatungu.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cropped-9622d61e-ea82-458b-9786-975a2fe7b4c6-32x32.png Hamas Archives - KahawaTungu https://kahawatungu.com/tag/hamas/ 32 32 Hamas Lists 34 Hostages it May Free Under Ceasefire https://kahawatungu.com/hamas-lists-34-hostages-it-may-free-under-ceasefire/ Mon, 06 Jan 2025 12:49:27 +0000 https://kahawatungu.com/?p=288480 A senior Hamas official has shared with the BBC a list of 34 hostages that the Palestinian group says it is willing to release in the first stage of a potential ceasefire agreement with Israel. It is unclear how many of those named remain alive. Among them are 10 women and 11 older male hostages [...]

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A senior Hamas official has shared with the BBC a list of 34 hostages that the Palestinian group says it is willing to release in the first stage of a potential ceasefire agreement with Israel.

It is unclear how many of those named remain alive.

Among them are 10 women and 11 older male hostages aged between 50 and 85, as well as young children who Hamas previously said had been killed in an Israeli air strike.

A number of hostages who Hamas says are sick are also included on the list.

Reports from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry say Israeli air strikes killed more than 100 people there at the weekend.

The Israeli prime minister’s office denied reports that Hamas had provided Israel with a list of hostages.

“The list of abductees published in the media was not passed on to Israel by Hamas, but was originally passed from Israel to intermediaries as early as July 2024,” it said.

“To date, Israel has not received any confirmation or comment from Hamas regarding the status of the abductees on the list.”

Hamas’s decision to release the names of hostages will be seen by some as an attempt to increase public pressure on the Israeli government.

Ceasefire negotiations resumed in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend, but the talks do not appear to have made significant progress yet.

A Hamas official told Reuters news agency any agreement to return Israeli hostages would depend on a deal for Israel to withdraw from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire or end to the war.

“However, until now, the occupation continues to be obstinate over an agreement over the issues of the ceasefire and withdrawal, and has made no step forward,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Israel and Hamas have consistently accused each other of obstructing progress towards a ceasefire deal.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Seoul on Monday that he was “confident that [a deal] will get its completion at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later”, though he conceded it might happen after Joe Biden leaves office on 20 January.

On Sunday, Hamas posted a video of 19-year-old Israeli captive Liri Albag in which she was seen urging her government to make a deal.

Albag was captured along with six other female soldiers at the Nahal Oz army base on the Gaza border during Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.

About 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage in the unprecedented attack, which triggered a massive Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

At least 45,805 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, Gaza’s health ministry says.

The ministry says Israeli air strikes killed 88 people in Gaza on Saturday, while on Sunday Reuters quoted health sources as saying a further 17 had been killed in four separate Israeli attacks on the territory.

The Israeli military said on Sunday that its air force had attacked more than 100 “terrorist” sites across the Gaza Strip over the weekend, killing dozens of Hamas fighters.

The names on the list of hostages provided by Hamas:

Romi Gonen (24); Emily Damari (28); Arbel Yehoud (29); Doron Steinbrecher (31); Ariel Bibas (5); Kfir Bibas (1); Shiri Silberman Bibas (33); Liri Albag (19); Karina Ariev (20); Agam Berger (20); Daniel Gilboa (20); Naama Levy (20); Ohad Ben-Ami (55); Gad Moshe Moses (80); Keith Shmuel Siegel (65); Offer Kaldaron (53); Eliyahu Sharabi (52); Itzhak Elgaret (69); Shlomo Mansur (86); Ohad Yahalomi (50); Yousef Yousef Alziadna (54); Oded Lifshitz (84); Tsachi Idan (50); Hisham al-Sayed (36); Yarden Bibas (35); Sagi Dekel Chen (36); Iair Horn (46); Omer Wenkert (23); Alexandre Troufanov (28); Eliya Cohen (27); Or Levy (34); Avera Mengistu (38); Tal Shoham (39); Omer Shem Tov (21).

Ethiopian Israeli Avera Mengistu, and Bedouin Arab Israeli Hisham al-Sayed were taken captive in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

By BBC News

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Hamas Police Chief Among 11 Killed in Israeli Strike on Gaza, Medics Say https://kahawatungu.com/hamas-police-chief-among-11-killed-in-israeli-strike-on-gaza-medics-say/ Thu, 02 Jan 2025 13:23:00 +0000 https://kahawatungu.com/?p=288060 The chief of Gaza’s Hamas-run police force and his deputy have been killed in an Israeli strike on a tent camp sheltering displaced families. The Hamas-run interior ministry condemned what it called the “assassination” of Mahmoud Salah and Hussam Shahwan, who it said had been “performing their humanitarian and national duty”. Nine other people, including [...]

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The chief of Gaza’s Hamas-run police force and his deputy have been killed in an Israeli strike on a tent camp sheltering displaced families.

The Hamas-run interior ministry condemned what it called the “assassination” of Mahmoud Salah and Hussam Shahwan, who it said had been “performing their humanitarian and national duty”.

Nine other people, including three children and two women, were also killed in the overnight attack in al-Mawasi, near the southern city of Khan Younis, medics said.

Israel’s military confirmed it had carried out a strike targeting Shahwan, who it alleged was a “terrorist” who had helped Hamas’s military wing plan attacks on Israeli forces in Gaza.

There were also reports of other deadly Israeli strikes across Gaza on Thursday, and the military said it intercepted a projectile fired from the south of the territory. The Gaza interior ministry accused Israel of “spreading chaos” and “deepening the human suffering” in the territory by killing Salah and Shahwan. It insisted that the police force was a “civilian protection agency” that provided services to Palestinians.

There has been increased lawlessness in Gaza since Israel began targeting police officers last year, citing their role in Hamas governance.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the police force had “conducted violent interrogations of the Gazan population, violating human rights and suppressing dissent”.

“Hassam Shahwan was responsible for developing intelligence assessments in coordination with elements of Hamas’s military wing in attacks on the IDF in the Gaza Strip,” it alleged.

The military also said it had taken “numerous steps” to mitigate the risk of harming civilians prior to the strike on al-Mawasi.

Three brothers aged seven, 11 and 13 were among the nine other people who were killed.

Ahmed, Mohammed and Abdul Rahman al-Bardawil were asleep in their tent when the strike happened, their father Walid said in an interview with a local journalist.

Social media videos showed the boys’ bodies being transported to a local hospital by a tuk-tuk, as well as their blood-stained mattresses inside a damaged tent.

Aida Zanoun, who was living in a neighbouring tent, said she heard an Apache helicopter gunship flying overhead at around 01:00 (23:00 GMT Wednesday).

“Then we saw a very strong [explosion]. It caused an earthquake in the neighbourhood. The shrapnel reached as far as 100m [330ft], they say,” she told Reuters news agency.

“When the morning came, we came to inspect [the scene], and… it is devastation, complete destruction. What have the children done, to be hit?”

The Israeli military has declared the sandy strip of land along the coast in al-Mawasi to be a “humanitarian zone” for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by its 14-month war with Hamas.

But it has repeatedly attacked the area, accusing Hamas operatives of hiding among civilians.

Palestinian media reported that at least 19 people were killed in Israeli strikes elsewhere in Gaza on Thursday.

Ten were killed in the northern town of Jabalia, which is besieged by Israeli ground forces, while four were killed in Shati refugee camp to the west, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency.

Another four people were killed in the central town of Deir al-Balah and several others were killed in nearby Maghazi refugee camp, it said.

Recent cold, wet weather has worsened conditions in makeshift camps for displaced families.

More than 1,500 tents across Gaza have been flooded by rainwater and sewage since Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency.

“When we woke up… we were shocked to find that the rain had flooded [our tent], causing us to be submerged in sewage,” Moataz Abu Hatab told BBC Arabic’s Gaza Today programme.

“Everything we had – our mattresses, blankets, and clothes – was lost. All the items we had managed to buy or receive during the war are now gone, and we are left with nothing.”

Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 45,580 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

By BBC News

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Hamas Threatens to ‘Neutralize’ Hostages if Israel Launches Rescue Operation https://kahawatungu.com/hamas-threatens-to-neutralize-hostages-if-israel-launches-rescue-operation/ Thu, 05 Dec 2024 05:39:16 +0000 https://kahawatungu.com/?p=284846 Hamas said it had information that Israel intended to carry out a hostage rescue operation similar to one conducted in Gaza’s Nuseirat camp in June and threatened to “neutralize” the captives if any such action took place, according to an internal statement seen by Reuters on Wednesday. In the statement dated Nov. 22, Hamas told [...]

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Hamas said it had information that Israel intended to carry out a hostage rescue operation similar to one conducted in Gaza’s Nuseirat camp in June and threatened to “neutralize” the captives if any such action took place, according to an internal statement seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

In the statement dated Nov. 22, Hamas told its operatives not to consider what the repercussions of following the instructions might be and said it held Israel responsible for the fate of the hostages.

The statement, which a senior Hamas source told Reuters was circulated to its factions by the intelligence unit of the group’s military wing Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, did not say when any Israeli operation was expected to take place. There was no immediate Israeli response to the statement. On Wednesday, Israeli media cited Defence Minister Israel Katz as saying pressure on Hamas was increasing and this time “we will really be able to advance a hostage deal”.

Israel’s Nuseirat rescue operation on June 9 saw Israeli forces free four hostages, who had been held by Hamas since October 2023, in a raid Palestinian officials said killed more than 200 people, making it one of the bloodiest Israeli assaults of the war.

In the Hamas statement, the group told its operatives to “tighten” the living conditions of the captives and said this should be done in accordance with instructions issued after the Nuseirat operation.

In a section titled “recommendations”, Hamas also instructed its operatives to “activate neutralization orders … as an immediate and swift response to any adventure by the enemy.”

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters attacked Israeli communities across the border on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking over 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s military campaign has since killed more than 44,500 Palestinians and injured many others, according to Palestinians figures. The offensive has reduced much of Gaza to rubble.

By Agencies

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Sinwar’s Death is Serious Blow to Hamas, But Not the End of the War https://kahawatungu.com/sinwars-death-is-serious-blow-to-hamas-but-not-the-end-of-the-war/ Fri, 18 Oct 2024 04:24:21 +0000 https://kahawatungu.com/?p=278790 Killing Yahya Sinwar is Israel’s biggest victory so far in the war against Hamas in Gaza.  His death is a serious blow for Hamas, the organisation he turned into a fighting force that inflicted the biggest defeat on the state of Israel in its history. He was not killed in a planned special forces operation, [...]

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Killing Yahya Sinwar is Israel’s biggest victory so far in the war against Hamas in Gaza. 

His death is a serious blow for Hamas, the organisation he turned into a fighting force that inflicted the biggest defeat on the state of Israel in its history.

He was not killed in a planned special forces operation, but in a chance encounter with Israeli forces in Rafah in southern Gaza.

A photo taken at the scene shows Sinwar, dressed in combat gear, lying dead in the rubble of a building that was hit by a tank shell.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, praised the soldiers and made clear that however big a victory, it was not the end of the war.

“Today we made clear once again what happens to those who harm us. Today we once again showed the world the victory of good over evil.

“But the war, my dear ones, is not over yet. It is difficult, and it is costing us dearly.”

“Great challenges still lie ahead of us. We need endurance, unity, courage, and steadfastness. Together we will fight, and with God’s help – together we will win.”

Netanyahu and the overwhelming proportion of Israelis who support the war in Gaza needed a victory.

The prime minister has repeated his war aims many times – destroying Hamas as a military and political force and bringing the hostages home.

Neither has been achieved, despite a year of war that has killed at least 42,000 Palestinians and left much of Gaza in ruins.

But the remaining hostages are not free and Hamas is fighting and sometimes killing Israeli troops.

Killing Sinwar was the victory Israel wanted. But until Netanyahu can claim that the other war aims have been accomplished, the war, as he says, will go on.

Yahya Sinwar was born in 1962 in a refugee camp in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip. He was five years old when it was captured by Israel from Egypt in the 1967 Middle East war.

His family were among more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes by Israeli forces in the 1948 war in which Israel won its independence.

His family came from the town now known as Ashkelon, which is close to the northern border of the Gaza Strip.

In his 20s, he was convicted by Israel of killing four Palestinian informers. During 22 years in jail he learnt Hebrew, studied his enemy and believed that he worked out how to fight them. His time in jail also meant Israel had his dental records and a sample of his DNA, which meant that they could identify his body.

Sinwar was released as one of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners who were swapped in 2011 for a single Israel soldier, Gilad Shalit.

On 7 October last year, in a meticulously planned series of attacks, Sinwar and his men inflicted Israel’s worst-ever defeat – and a collective trauma that is still deeply felt.

The killing of around 1,200 Israelis, the hostage-taking and the celebrations of their enemies recalled for many Israelis the Nazi holocaust.

Sinwar’s own experience in a prisoner swap must have convinced him of the value and power of taking hostages.

In Tel Aviv families of the remaining 101 hostages in Gaza – Israel says half of them might already be dead – gathered in the square in which they have been gathering for a year, urging the Israeli government to launch a new negotiation to get their people home.

Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker appealed to the prime minister.

“Netanyahu, don’t bury the hostages. Go out now to the mediators and to the public and lay out a new Israeli initiative.”

“For my Matan and the rest of the hostages in the tunnels, time has run out. You have the victory pictures. Now bring a deal!”

“If Netanyahu doesn’t use this moment and doesn’t get up now to lay out a new Israeli initiative – even at the expense of ending the war – it means he has decided to abandon the hostages in an effort to prolong the war and fortify his rulership.

“We will not give up until everyone returns.”

Many Israelis believe that Netanyahu wants to prolong the war in Gaza to put off the day of reckoning for his share of the security failures that allowed Sinwar and his men to break into Israel, and to postpone perhaps indefinitely the resumption of his trial on serious corruption charges.

He denies those accusations, insisting that only what he calls ‘total victory’ in Gaza over Hamas will restore Israeli security.

Like other news organisations, Israel does not let the BBC cross into Gaza except on rare, supervised trips with the army.

In the ruins of Khan Yunis, the birthplace of Sinwar, Palestinians interviewed for the BBC by local trusted freelancers were defiant. They said the war would go on.

“This war is not dependent on Sinwar, Haniyeh, or Mishal, nor on any leader or official,” said Dr Ramadan Faris.

“It’s a war of extermination against the Palestinian people, as we all know and understand. The issue is much bigger than Sinwar or anyone else.”

Adnan Ashour said some people were saddened, and others were indifferent about Sinwar.

“They’re not just after us. They want the entire Middle East. They’re fighting in Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen… This is a war between us and the Jews since 1919, over 100 years.”

He was asked whether the death of Sinwar would affect Hamas.

“I hope not, God willing. Let me explain: Hamas is not just Sinwar… It’s the cause of a people.”

The war goes on in Gaza. Twenty five Palestinians were killed in a raid on northern Gaza. Israel said it hit a Hamas command centre. Doctors at the local hospital said the scores of wounded that they treated were civilians.

Parachute drops of aid resumed after the Americans said Israel had to allow in more food and relief supplies.

Every leader of Hamas since the 1990s has been killed by Israel, but there’s always been a successor. As Israel celebrates killing Sinwar, Hamas still has its hostages and is still fighting.

By BBC News

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17 Dead In Gaza As Israel Troops Encircle https://kahawatungu.com/17-dead-in-gaza-as-israel-troops-encircle/ Mon, 07 Oct 2024 04:19:03 +0000 https://kahawatungu.com/?p=277419 Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Sunday that Israeli air strikes in Jabaliya killed at least 17 people as Israeli forces said they had surrounded the area to prevent Hamas from regrouping. Following a year of fighting after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, large swathes of Gaza have been reduced to rubble as [...]

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Gaza’s civil defence agency said on Sunday that Israeli air strikes in Jabaliya killed at least 17 people as Israeli forces said they had surrounded the area to prevent Hamas from regrouping.

Following a year of fighting after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, large swathes of Gaza have been reduced to rubble as the Israeli army aimed to completely destroy the militant group.

But in recent months, troops have returned to several areas across the Palestinian territory where they had previously conducted operations against Hamas, only to find militants regrouping.

The Israeli military said Sunday its forces surrounded the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza in response to indications that Hamas was rebuilding despite nearly a year of strikes and fighting.

“The troops of the 401st Brigade and the 460th Brigade have successfully encircled the area and are currently continuing to operate in the area,” the military said in a statement on Sunday.

It cited intelligence suggesting the “presence of terrorists and terror infrastructure in the area of Jabaliya… as well as efforts by Hamas to rebuild its operational capabilities in the area”.

Israeli aircraft struck “dozens of military targets” in support of ground troops, it said.

Hamas-run Gaza’s civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said multiple strikes rocked Jabaliya overnight.

Residents said the Israeli military had targeted the area with heavy bombardment.

“The shelling is random and violent in multiple directions and we do not know where the shelling is coming from and we do not know where to go,” Gaza resident Jameel al-Habibi told AFP.

Khaled al-Hawajri, a resident of northern Gaza, said the relentless air strikes reminded him of the “first days of the war”.

Israeli forces have regularly targeted Jabaliya since the Gaza war began, displacing most residents.

The military said it was also expanding the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi along the coastline in southern Gaza.

“For this purpose, two humanitarian evacuation routes from northern Gaza have been reopened: one along the Salaheddine road and the other along the Al-Rashid coastal road,” the military said.

Gaza’s civil defence agency meanwhile said an Israeli air strike on a mosque-turned-shelter on Sunday in central Deir al-Balah killed 26 people. Israel’s military said it had targeted Hamas militants.

“The number of martyrs brought to hospitals as a result of the occupation’s targeting of displaced people in the Ibn Rushd school and Al Aqsa Martyrs mosque reached 26, with several more wounded,” a health ministry statement said.

Israel’s military said it had “conducted a precise strike on Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command and control centre” at the mosque.

The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,205 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages killed in captivity.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,870 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry and described as reliable by the UN.

By Agencies

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Israel, World On Alert Ahead Of Hamas Attack Anniversary https://kahawatungu.com/israel-world-on-alert-ahead-of-hamas-attack-anniversary/ Sun, 06 Oct 2024 08:08:44 +0000 https://kahawatungu.com/?p=277331 Israel placed its forces on alert Saturday ahead of the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack, after a military official said the country was preparing its retaliation for Iran’s missile attack. Security agencies across the world too heightened their alertness over fears of attacks to mark the day. This saw operations to disrupt any such [...]

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Israel placed its forces on alert Saturday ahead of the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack, after a military official said the country was preparing its retaliation for Iran’s missile attack.

Security agencies across the world too heightened their alertness over fears of attacks to mark the day.

This saw operations to disrupt any such plans.

The alerts over possible attack from extremist groups came with Israel engaged in an intensifying war with the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which military chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said would be hit “without concession or respite”.

Ahead of the October 7 anniversary, thousands joined pro-Palestinian rallies in London, Paris, Cape Town and other cities.

Herzog, the Israeli president, said his country’s October 7 “wounds still cannot fully heal”.

Ahead of Monday’s grim anniversary, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said at a televised briefing: “We are prepared with increased forces in anticipation for this day”, when there could be “attacks on the home front”.

The unprecedented October 7 2023 attack on Israel by the Palestinian group resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians.

One year later, the war in Gaza continues while Israel has shifted its focus north to Lebanon and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The Israeli military said it had killed around 440 Hezbollah fighters “from the ground and from the air” since Monday, when troops began “targeted” ground operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel says it aims to allow tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by almost a year of Hezbollah rocket fire into northern Israel to return home.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog called Iran an “ongoing threat” after Tehran, which backs armed groups across the Middle East, on Tuesday launched around 200 missiles at Israel in revenge for Israeli killings of top militant leaders.

The missile attack killed a Palestinian in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and damaged an Israeli air base, according to satellite images.

It came the same day Israeli ground forces began their raids into Lebanon after days of intense strikes on Hezbollah strongholds across Lebanon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted Iran had twice launched “hundreds of missiles” at Israeli territory since April.

“Israel has the duty and the right to defend itself and to respond to these attacks and that is what we will do,” he said in a statement.

Netanyahu’s critics accuse him of obstructing efforts to reach a Gaza ceasefire and deal to free hostages still held by Hamas.

A senior Hezbollah source said Saturday the group had lost contact with Hashem Safieddine, widely tipped to be the next Hezbollah leader, after air strikes in Beirut.

The movement is yet to name a new chief after Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah late last month in a massive strike in the Lebanese capital.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday said that “the resistance in the region will not back down”.

Hezbollah said its fighters were confronting Israeli troops in Lebanon’s southern border region, and early Sunday claimed to have repelled an attempted Israeli incursion into a border village.

The Israeli military said Saturday it had struck militants inside a mosque in Bint Jbeil.

It also reported frequent rocket fire from Lebanon while Hezbollah claimed a rocket attack on northern Israel’s Ramat David air base, and on a “military industries company” near Israel’s coastal city of Acre.

Hamas said Israeli strikes had killed two of its operatives in north and east Lebanon Saturday, which the Israeli military confirmed.

One of them was hit near Tripoli, Hamas said, the first such strike in the northern area.

Late Saturday Israel issued a new order for residents of southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold, to evacuate.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said early Sunday that “more than 30” Israeli strikes had hit south Beirut and its outskirts overnight.

Across Lebanon, the wave of strikes on Hezbollah strongholds has killed more than 1,110 people since September 23, according to a tally based on official figures.

Israeli bombardment has put at least four hospitals in Lebanon out of service, the facilities said.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said it rejected a request by the Israeli military to “relocate some of our positions” in south Lebanon.

Ireland’s President Michael Higgins, whose country has peacekeepers in the mission, said Israel was “demanding that the entire UNIFIL… walk away”, which he called “an insult to the most important global institution”.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, visiting Damascus on Saturday after a stop in Beirut, renewed his call for ceasefires in both Gaza and Lebanon, while threatening Israel with an “even stronger” reaction to any attack on Iran.

French President Emmanuel Macron said it was time “that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,” adding that France was not providing any.

He also criticised Israel’s decision to send ground troops into Lebanon.

US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators tried unsuccessfully for months to reach a Gaza truce and secure the release of 97 hostages still held in the Hamas-ruled territory.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said Sunday an Israeli strike on a mosque-turned-shelter in central Deir al-Balah killed 21 people, while Israel’s military said it had targeted Hamas militants.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,825 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures provided by the territory’s health ministry and described as reliable by the UN.

By Agencies

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US Charges Hamas Leaders Over October 7 Attack on Israel https://kahawatungu.com/us-charges-hamas-leaders-over-october-7-attack-on-israel/ Wed, 04 Sep 2024 04:01:18 +0000 https://kahawatungu.com/?p=272550 The US has charged Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and several other prominent figures in the Palestinian group in connection with its deadly attack in Israel on October 7 last year. The justice department said it was indicting six Hamas members with seven charges, including the murder of US citizens, conspiracy to finance terrorism and use [...]

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The US has charged Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and several other prominent figures in the Palestinian group in connection with its deadly attack in Israel on October 7 last year.

The justice department said it was indicting six Hamas members with seven charges, including the murder of US citizens, conspiracy to finance terrorism and use of weapons of mass destruction.

The criminal complaint covers decades of alleged attacks by Hamas, as well as the unprecedented assault on southern Israel nearly a year ago.

It is the first step by US law enforcement to hold accountable the ringleaders of the 7 October attack, though up to three of those named in the indictment are dead and Sinwar is believed to be hiding in tunnels somewhere under Gaza.

In a video statement on Tuesday, Mr Garland said the defendants were responsible for “financing and directing a decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the security of the United States”.

The group also “led Hamas’s efforts to destroy the state of Israel and murder civilians in support of that aim”.

He noted the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas, in which the group “murdered entire families” in “the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust”.

“They murdered the elderly and they murdered young children. They weaponised sexual violence against women, including rape and genital mutilation.”

He added that during the attack the group “murdered over 1,200 people” and “perpetrated the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust”.

Other Hamas leaders charged include former leader Ismail Haniyeh; Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of the organisation’s armed wing; Khaled Mashaal, who leads the group outside Gaza and the West Bank; along with Mohammed Deif and Ali Baraka.

The charges include conspiracy to bomb a place of public use resulting in death, conspiracy to finance terrorism and material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death.

The justice department’s complaint notes that all the “defendants are either deceased or remain at large”.

Haniyeh, Issa and Deif have all been reported killed in the past few months in attacks that were either claimed by or attributed to Israel.

The attorney general referred in Tuesday’s remarks to the killing last week of US-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, in addition to 42 other American citizens killed in the 7 October attack and 10 taken hostage.

“We are investigating Hersh’s murder, and each and every one of Hamas’ brutal murders of Americans, as an act of terrorism,” Mr Garland said.

If convicted, the group faces a maximum penalty of life in prison or a death sentence.

The charges were filed in February, but were kept under wraps until Tuesday in case the US had the opportunity to arrest any of the accused, an unnamed justice department official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

Over the weekend, President Joe Biden condemned the Hamas killing of Goldberg-Polin, calling it “as tragic as it is reprehensible”.

“Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” Mr Biden said.

Meanwhile, the UK has defended its decision to ban some weapons sales to Israel over concerns about how they might be used in Gaza.

Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then in Israel’s ongoing military campaign, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

By BBC News

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Massive protests hit Israel after six hostages killed in Gaza https://kahawatungu.com/massive-protests-hit-israel-after-six-hostages-killed-in-gaza/ Mon, 02 Sep 2024 04:32:23 +0000 https://kahawatungu.com/?p=272284 Massive protests swept Israel on Sunday following the death of six hostages in Gaza as frustration mounted over the failure of the country’s leadership to secure a ceasefire deal that would free Israeli captives. Crowds estimated by Israeli media to number up to 500,000 strong demonstrated in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities, demanding that [...]

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Massive protests swept Israel on Sunday following the death of six hostages in Gaza as frustration mounted over the failure of the country’s leadership to secure a ceasefire deal that would free Israeli captives.

Crowds estimated by Israeli media to number up to 500,000 strong demonstrated in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu do more to bring home the remaining 101 hostages, about of a third of whom Israeli officials estimate have died.

In Jerusalem, protesters blocked streets and demonstrated outside the prime minister’s residence. Aerial footage showed Tel Aviv’s main highway filled with protesters holding flags with pictures of the slain hostages.

Israeli television footage showed police directing water canons at demonstrators who had blocked roads. Local media reported 29 arrests.

Labour leaders called a one-day general strike on Monday.

The Israeli military announced the recovery of the bodies from a tunnel in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, as a polio vaccination campaign began in the war-shattered Palestinian territory and violence flared in the occupied West Bank.

The bodies of hostages Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino were returned to Israel, military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters.

A forensic examination determined they were “murdered by Hamas terrorists in a number of shots at close range” 48-72 hours previously, an Israeli health ministry spokesperson said.

Netanyahu, who faces growing calls to end nearly 11 months of war with a deal for a ceasefire and the release of remaining hostages, said Israel would not rest until it caught those responsible. “Whoever murders hostages – does not want a deal,” he said.

Senior Hamas officials said that Israel, in its refusal to sign a ceasefire agreement, was to blame for the deaths.

“Netanyahu is responsible for the killing of Israeli prisoners,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters. “The Israelis should choose between Netanyahu and the deal.”

Israel’s assault on Gaza began after Hamas and other militants killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages in attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel’s offensive has levelled much of the enclave of 2.3 million people, and the Gaza health ministry says at least 40,738 Palestinians have been killed. Displaced people are living in dire conditions with inadequate shelter and a hunger crisis.

‘HAMAS WILL PAY,’ BIDEN SAYS

Amid mounting public anger, the head of Israel’s trades union federation, Arnon Bar-David, on Sunday called for a general strike on Monday to pressure the government into signing a deal, and said Ben Gurion airport, Israel’s main air transport hub, would be closed from 8 a.m. (0500 GMT).

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who has clashed frequently with Netanyahu, also called for an agreement, and opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid urged people to join the demonstration in Tel Aviv.

In a last-ditch bid to stop the demonstrations, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hardline member of Israel’s security cabinet, asked the attorney general to prohibit the strike.

The Hostage Families Forum called on Netanyahu to take responsibility and explain what was holding up an agreement.

The six hostages brought home on Sunday “were all murdered in the last few days, after surviving almost 11 months of abuse, torture, and starvation in Hamas captivity. The delay in signing the deal has led to their deaths and those of many other hostages,” it said.

Netanyahu’s office said he had spoken to the family of Lobanov, whose body was among those recovered, apologising and expressing “deep sorrow”.

But the family of Gat said they refused to speak to the prime minister and instead called on Israelis to join protests.

“Take to the streets and shut down the country until everyone returns. They can still be saved,” Gat’s cousin, Gil Dickmann, wrote on X.

U.S. President Joe Biden said he was “devastated and outraged” by the death of 23-year-old Israeli American Goldberg-Polin and the other hostages.

“Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages,” he said in a statement.

Speaking to reporters in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, he said he was “still optimistic” about a ceasefire deal.

Months of stop-start negotiations mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt have so far failed to secure a deal, despite increased U.S. pressure and repeated trips by top officials to the region.

Speaking to Al-Jazeera television, chief Hamas negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya, based in Qatar, on Sunday reaffirmed the group would not sign an agreement unless Israel fully withdrew from Gaza Strip, including the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors, issues that have been sticking points in the talks.

POLIO VACCINATIONS

Israel and Hamas agreed to pause fighting in areas of Gaza for at least eight hours daily from Sunday to Tuesday to begin vaccinating 640,000 children against polio.

Children, escorted by family members, crowded a UN clinic in the central Gaza city of Deir Al-Balah, according to Palestinian officials. The territory’s health ministry said at least 72,611 children were vaccinated the first day.

The campaign comes after the confirmation last month that a baby was partially paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years.

Israeli forces continued to battle Hamas-led militants in several parts of Gaza, with the Israeli military targeting what it said was a Hamas command centre in a former school in Gaza City. The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said 11 people had died and medics said many others had been wounded.

In Khan Younis, an Israeli air strike killed two Palestinians and wounded 10 others, according to medics, bringing the day’s total death toll in Gaza to 27.

By Reuters

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Israel Rescues Bedouin Hostage Held by Hamas in Gaza https://kahawatungu.com/israel-rescues-bedouin-hostage-held-by-hamas-in-gaza/ Tue, 27 Aug 2024 16:48:28 +0000 https://kahawatungu.com/?p=271466 The Israeli military said Tuesday it rescued a Bedouin Arab hostage who was kidnapped by Hamas gunmen during the 7 October attack on Israel and taken back to Gaza. Kaid Farhan Elkadi, 52, was rescued in a “complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip” by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet domestic security [...]

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The Israeli military said Tuesday it rescued a Bedouin Arab hostage who was kidnapped by Hamas gunmen during the 7 October attack on Israel and taken back to Gaza.

Kaid Farhan Elkadi, 52, was rescued in a “complex operation in the southern Gaza Strip” by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet domestic security service, according to a statement.

No further details could be published “due to considerations of the safety of our hostages, the security of our forces, and national security”, it said.

Mr Elkadi is in a stable condition and has been transferred to a hospital for medical checks.

One video showed several members of his family running through the grounds of the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba to be reunited with him.

He is the eighth hostage rescued by Israeli forces since the start of the war in Gaza.

“The operation was part of the IDF’s daring and courageous activities conducted deep inside the Gaza strip,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“This operation joins a series of actions taken by the IDF that bring us closer to achieving the goals of this war.

“I would like to reiterate and emphasize: Israel is committed to taking advantage of every opportunity to return the hostages home to Israel.”

Mr Elkadi, a father of 11 and grandfather of one, is from a Bedouin village in the Rahat area, in the Negev desert.

He worked for many years as a security guard at Kibbutz Magen, close to the Israel-Gaza border, where he was abducted 10 months ago.

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 40,430 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

By BBC News

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Biden says killing of Hamas leader Haniyeh not helpful for ceasefire talks https://kahawatungu.com/biden-says-killing-of-hamas-leader-haniyeh-not-helpful-for-ceasefire-talks/ Fri, 02 Aug 2024 11:59:52 +0000 https://kahawatungu.com/?p=267611 U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday the killing of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh was not helpful for reaching a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza. There has been an increased risk of an escalation into a broader Middle East war after the assassination of Haniyeh in Iran drew threats of retaliation against Israel. Hamas and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards [...]

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U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday the killing of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh was not helpful for reaching a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza.
There has been an increased risk of an escalation into a broader Middle East war after the assassination of Haniyeh in Iran drew threats of retaliation against Israel.
Hamas and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed the death of Haniyeh, who had participated in internationally-brokered indirect talks on reaching a ceasefire in Gaza.
Anxious residents in Israeli-besieged Gaza feared that Haniyeh’s killing on Wednesday would prolong the war.
Iran said the killing took place hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for its new president.
“It doesn’t help,” Biden told reporters late on Thursday, when asked if Haniyeh’s assassination ruined the chances for a ceasefire agreement.
Biden also said he had a direct conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier on Thursday.
Netanyahu’s government has issued no claim of responsibility but he has said Israel had delivered crushing blows to Iran’s proxies of late, including Hamas and Lebanon-based Hezbollah, and would respond forcefully to any attack.
Also Read: Al Jazeera Journalists Killed In Reported Israeli Airstrike In Gaza, Network Says
Israel’s tensions with Iran and Hezbollah have fanned fears of a widened conflict in a region already on edge amid Israel’s assault on Gaza which has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on Oct. 7 when Palestinian Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
The Gaza health ministry says that since then Israel’s military assault on the Hamas-governed enclave has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians while also displacing nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, causing a hunger crisis and leading to genocide accusations that Israel denies.
By Agencies.

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