A senior Hamas official says the militant group is holding more than 100 people captive after its unprecedented assault on Israel. Mousa Abu Marzouk made the remarks Sunday to the Arabic language news outlet al-Ghad. The figure is in addition to more than 30 people said to be held by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group. During their rampage through southern Israel, militants dragged back into Gaza dozens of captives, among them women, children and the elderly. Their precise number was not clear until the two militant groups made their announcements. Israel's military has said only that a significant number were abducted, without further detail.
The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting behind closed doors Sunday, with the United States demanding all 15 members strongly condemn these heinous terrorist attacks committed by Hamas, but it took no immediate action. U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood said afterward that a good number of countries did condemn the Hamas attack but not all council members. He told reporters they could probably figure out one of them. Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told The Associated Press the Americans tried to say during the meeting that Russia isn't condemning the attacks, but that's untrue. It was in my comments, he said. We condemn all the attacks on civilians. Nebenzia said Russia's message is: It's important to stop the fighting immediately, to go to a cease-fire and to meaningful negotiations, which were stalled for decades. Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun voiced a similar position earlier, as he headed into the meeting. He said Beijing condemns all attacks on civilian
The capture of dozens of Israeli soldiers and civilians elderly women, children, entire families by Hamas militants has stirred Israeli emotions more viscerally than any crisis in the country's recent memory and presented an impossible dilemma for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government. The Islamist militant group's 2006 seizure of a sole young conscript, Gilad Shalit, consumed Israeli society for years a national obsession that prompted Israel to heavily bombard the Gaza Strip and ultimately release over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom had been convicted of deadly attacks on Israelis, in exchange for Shalit's freedom. This time, Gaza's Hamas rulers have abducted dozens of Israeli civilians and soldiers as part of a multipronged, shock attack on Saturday. Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a militant group smaller and more brazen than Hamas, said Sunday that it alone had seized 30 hostages. Their captivity raises the heat on Netanyahu and his hawkish,
Supporters of Israel and backers of the Palestinian cause rallied in American cities on Sunday over the conflict that has killed hundreds and wounded thousands in the Middle East. Palestinian Americans planned to gather Sunday outside of the Israeli consulates in Atlanta and Chicago. In recent years, we have seen the unified Palestinian resistance grow stronger, said Hatem Abudayyeh, the national chair of the US Palestinian Community Network and a spokesperson for the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine, who has family in the region. It really should be no surprise that this is happening. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was set to lead a Jewish community gathering in support of Israel at a synagogue in San Francisco. A pro-Palestinian march was planned for Times Square Sunday afternoon. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul called the anticipated gathering abhorrent and morally repugnant. On Saturday night in New York City, around 300 people, many in Jewish religious garb, had sun
The Pentagon has ordered the Ford carrier strike group to sail to the Eastern Mediterranean to be ready to assist Israel, two US officials said on Sunday. The USS Gerald R. Ford and its approximately 5,000 sailors and deck of warplanes will be accompanied by cruisers and destroyers in a show of force that is meant to be ready to respond to anything, from possibly interdicting additional weapons from reaching Hamas and conducting surveillance. Hamas launched its unprecedented incursion out of Gaza on Saturday. At least 600 people have reportedly been killed in Israel and more than 300 have been killed in Gaza as Israeli airstrikes pound the territory. The Norfolk, Virginia-based carrier was already in the Mediterranean. Last week it was conducting naval exercises with Italy in the Ionian Sea. It's the United States newest and most advanced aircraft carrier and this is its first full deployment. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter before the Defense ...
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The Hamas attack was openly praised by Iran and by Hezbollah, Iran's Lebanese allies
Israel's military said it had regained control of most infiltration points along security barriers, killed hundreds of attackers and taken dozens more prisoner
Israeli soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel on Sunday and launched retaliation strikes that leveled buildings in Gaza, while in northern Israel a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict. There was still some fighting underway more than 24 hours after an unprecedented surprise attack from Gaza, in which Hamas militants, backed by a volley of thousands of rockets, broke through Israel's security barrier and rampaged through nearby communities. At least 600 people have reportedly been killed in Israel a staggering toll on a scale the country has not experienced in decades and more than 300 have been killed in Gaza. The militants also took captives back into the coastal Gaza enclave, including women, children and the elderly, whom they will likely try to trade for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. The high death toll, multiple captives and slow response to the onslaught pointed
Carmon highlighted that the terrorist organisation, Hamas, during the past years has gained both political strength and military strength
The IDF on Sunday said the wrested control of 29 locations from Hamas infiltrators, he said
Setting aside their differences, top Israeli leaders have discussed the possibility of forming an emergency national unity government to deal with the complex situation after the unprecedented attack by Hamas militants that has left at least 300 Israelis dead. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz spoke on Saturday and discussed the possibility of joining Netanyahu's government because of the emergency created by Saturday's infiltration and rocket attacks from Gaza, Ha'aretz newspaper reported. The two opposition leaders expressed their willingness, but Lapid demanded far-right leaders and ministers, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, be removed. Gantz agreed to join alongside the two, the report said. Netanyahu reportedly said that he offered the two leaders to join the wide emergency government when they met him for a security briefing, citing past Likud leader Menachem Begin's example of joining the-then Prime Minister Lev
Over 400 terrorists have been killed inside Gaza, and dozens more have been held captive, the spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday
According to reports, the actor was in Israel to participate in the Haifa International Film Festival
Air India on Sunday said it has cancelled its flights to and from Tel Aviv till October 14. Israel came under attack by Hamas militants on Saturday and since then, both sides are engaged in fighting in which scores of people have died. "Our flights to and from Tel Aviv will remain suspended till 14th October, 2023, for the safety of our passengers and crew," an airline spokesperson said in a statement. The airline will extend all possible support to passengers who have confirmed bookings on any flight during this period, the spokesperson added. The full service carrier operates five weekly flights to Tel Aviv from the national capital. The service is on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday also, the carrier cancelled its flights to and from Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday, expressed solidarity with Israel after Hamas militants launched an attack on the country. Modi condemned it as "terrorist attacks" in Israel as its leader Benjamin ..
Israeli soldiers fought to repel Hamas militants Sunday and exchanged fire with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, raising the prospect of a broader regional conflagration a day after an unprecedented surprise attack on southern Israel by Palestinian militants that killed at least 250 and left Israelis stunned and reeling. The Hamas militants broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and rampaged through nearby Israeli communities, taking captives, including women, children and the elderly, while Israel's retaliation strikes leveled buildings in Gaza and its prime minister said the country was at war. Hezbollah struck Israeli positions in a disputed area along the border with Syria's Golan Heights, and Israel's military responded with armed drone strikes on Hezbollah targets in a disputed area where the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria meet. The flare-up on Israel's northern border threatened to draw into the battle a fierce enemy of Israel's which is backed by Iran and estimate
China on Sunday called on Palestine and Israel to immediately end the hostilities, exercise restraint, and remain calm to protect civilians to avoid further deterioration of the situation. China is deeply concerned over the current escalation of tensions and violence between Palestine and Israel, and calls on relevant parties to remain calm, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in response to questions on the fierce conflicts between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip resulting in massive casualties on both sides. Hamas launched a wave of rocket attacks on Saturday, killing over 200 people in Israel in the biggest escalation in decades. Israel has responded with a wave of air strikes on Gaza, killing more than 230 people, according to media reports. The spokesperson said the recurrence of the conflict shows once again that the protracted standstill of the peace process cannot last. The fundamental way out of the conflict lies in implementing th
"At this time, the IDF continues its attacks throughout the Gaza Strip," the IDF added in its post
Currently, 326 of them have been gravely injured, 359 have moderate injuries, and 19 are in critical condition
The deadly Hamas militant attack on Israel and the massive retaliation it provoked from Jerusalem have thrust President Joe Biden into a Middle East crisis that risks expanding into a broader conflict and has left him fending off criticism from GOP presidential rivals that his administration's policies led to this moment. The potential for prolonged and expanding violence could test Biden's leadership on both the world stage and at home as he tries to navigate between demonstrating unflinching support for Israel and fostering a broader peace in the combustible Mideast, where sympathetic militants were quick to loudly praise the action by Hamas. Lebanon's Hezbollah group welcomed the attack as a response to Israeli crimes. The group, which holds similar goals as Hamas for the destruction of the Israeli state, said its command was in contact with Hamas about the operation. A senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader also lauded the deadly attack. And Hamas said it was ready for a ...