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

The post Hamas Lists 34 Hostages it May Free Under Ceasefire appeared first on KahawaTungu.

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

The post Hamas Police Chief Among 11 Killed in Israeli Strike on Gaza, Medics Say appeared first on KahawaTungu.

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

The post Hamas Threatens to ‘Neutralize’ Hostages if Israel Launches Rescue Operation appeared first on KahawaTungu.

Israel’s MDA medical service said four people suffered gunshot wounds, with three in a serious condition, and four others were hurt by flying glass.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the shooter as a 46-year-old local man. Hamas’s armed wing al-Qassam Brigades said he man belonged to the group.

The post Israeli Bus Attacked in West Bank, At Least Eight Injured appeared first on KahawaTungu.

Ceremonies and protests in Jerusalem and Israel’s south were scheduled to begin around 06:29 a.m., the hour when Hamas-led militants launched rockets into Israel at the start of the October 7 attack last year.

They killed some 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli figures.

Security forces were on high alert across the country on Monday, the military and police said, anticipating possible Palestinian attacks planned for the anniversary of October 7, 2023, when the worst bloodletting in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict began.

The Hamas attack on Israeli communities around Gaza and Israel’s relentless campaign in response have destabilised the Middle East while the scale of the killing and destruction have horrified people worldwide.

Outside Israel, demonstrations are expected around the world against its offensive in the Gaza Strip which has laid waste the densely populated coastal enclave, killed almost 42,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and displaced most of the 2.3 million population.

For Israel, the surprise assault by the Palestinian Islamist group was one of the worst security failures for a country that prides itself on a strong, sophisticated military.

The attack led to Israel’s single deadliest day, shattered many citizens’ sense of security and sent their faith in its leaders to new lows.

Most of the dead were civilians, including women, children and elderly people, killed in their homes, on the roads and at the site of an open air music festival – as well as soldiers on army bases near the Gaza border.

In Gaza, 101 hostages remain as Israeli forces press on with their mission to end Hamas’ rule of the enclave and demolish its military capabilities.

But the focus of the war has increasingly shifted north to Lebanon where Israeli forces have been exchanging fire with Hezbollah since the Iranian-backed group launched a barrage of missiles in support of Hamas on October 8.

What began as limited daily exchanges has escalated into bombardments of Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut and a ground offensive into border villages meant to stamp out its fighters there and allow tens of thousands of Israelis evacuated from their homes in the country’s north to return.

Israel’s assault, which has killed well over 1,000 people in the past two weeks, has triggered a mass flight from southern Lebanon where more than 1 million people have been displaced.

A series of Israeli assassinations over the past few months which killed Hezbollah and Hamas chiefs and a sophisticated attack on Hezbollah via pagers and radios have restored some sense of security for Israelis.

But they also prompted unprecedented missile attacks from Iran, raising fears of a regional war with a powerful enemy. Israel has yet to respond to the second Iranian barrage on October 1, but has vowed a harsh response.

By Agencies

The post Israel Marks October 7 Anniversary Under Shadow Of Escalating War appeared first on KahawaTungu.

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

The post 17 Dead In Gaza As Israel Troops Encircle appeared first on KahawaTungu.

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

The post Israel, World On Alert Ahead Of Hamas Attack Anniversary appeared first on KahawaTungu.

The post Israeli strikes hit Gaza schools, hospital compound after talks fail appeared first on KahawaTungu.

Also Read: Al Jazeera Journalists Killed In Reported Israeli Airstrike In Gaza, Network Says

The post Biden says killing of Hamas leader Haniyeh not helpful for ceasefire talks appeared first on KahawaTungu.

‘MAJOR REPERCUSSIONS’

The post Iran, its proxies will meet to discuss retaliation against Israel, say sources appeared first on KahawaTungu.