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Israel Says it has Confirmed 212 People Held Hostage in Gaza

Destroyed buildings in Al Remal neighborhood after Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, 22 October 2023. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Destroyed buildings in Al Remal neighborhood after Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, 22 October 2023. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
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Israel Says it has Confirmed 212 People Held Hostage in Gaza

Destroyed buildings in Al Remal neighborhood after Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, 22 October 2023. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Destroyed buildings in Al Remal neighborhood after Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, 22 October 2023. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

Israel has confirmed that 212 people are being held hostage in Gaza, the military spokesperson said on Sunday, adding that Israeli strikes overnight killed dozens of Palestinian fighters, including the deputy chief of Hamas rocket forces.

Israel began unrelenting airstrikes on Gaza to its southwest after Hamas gunmen breached the border on Oct. 7 and carried out a shock rampage through nearby communities, killing 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and taking the hostages back to Gaza.

Concerns about the risk of wider Middle East conflict triggered by the Israel-Hamas war rose on Sunday with the US dispatching more military assets to the region as Israel pummeled targets in Gaza and Hamas supporters in Lebanon and Syria.

On the northern front, Israel has been attacking fighters trying to fire missiles across the Lebanese border and struck a site in Lebanon from where a missile was fired at an Israeli aircraft, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a briefing.

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Arab World

Scores Killed in Gaza as Israel Launches New Incursion in North

FILE PHOTO: People survey the destruction at Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, following Israeli strikes on the enclave, October 14, 2023 in this still image from video obtained by REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People survey the destruction at Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, following Israeli strikes on the enclave, October 14, 2023 in this still image from video obtained by REUTERS/File Photo
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Scores Killed in Gaza as Israel Launches New Incursion in North

FILE PHOTO: People survey the destruction at Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, following Israeli strikes on the enclave, October 14, 2023 in this still image from video obtained by REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: People survey the destruction at Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, following Israeli strikes on the enclave, October 14, 2023 in this still image from video obtained by REUTERS/File Photo

At least 24 people were killed and dozens of others wounded in Israeli airstrikes on a Gaza mosque and a school sheltering displaced people early on Sunday, Palestinian officials said.

A strike was carried out on the mosque near the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
Eyewitnesses said the number of casualties could rise as the mosque was being used to house displaced people.

The Israeli military said it had conducted "precise strikes on Hamas terrorists" who were operating within command and control centres embedded in Ibn Rushd School and the Shuhada al-Aqsa Mosque in the area of Deir al-Balah.

Israel's military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. It has also displaced nearly all of the enclave's 2.3 million people, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide allegations at the World Court that Israel denies.

The military meanwhile announced a new air and ground offensive in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza, home to a densely populated refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. It circulated photos and video footage showing a column of tanks heading toward the area.

The military said its forces had encircled Jabaliya as warplanes struck militant sides ahead of their advance. Over the course of the war, Israel has carried out several large operations there, only to see militants regroup.

Israel also ordered new evacuations in northern Gaza, which largely emptied out in the early weeks of the war when Israel ordered its entire population to flee south. Up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained there despite harsh conditions and heavy destruction.

“We are in a new phase of the war,” the military said in leaflets dropped over the area. “These areas are considered dangerous combat zones.”
Avichay Adraee, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said it has expanded the so-called humanitarian zone in southern Gaza, urging people to head there. The zone includes sprawling tent camps where hundreds of thousands of people have already sought refuge, and Israel has carried out strikes inside it against what it says are fighters sheltering among civilians.