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Israeli Military: Confirmed Number of Gaza Hostages Rises to 224

A dinner table is set with empty chairs that symbolically represent hostages and missing people waiting to come home, following a deadly infiltration of Israel by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Brussels, Belgium October 25, 2023. REUTERS/Johanna Geron
A dinner table is set with empty chairs that symbolically represent hostages and missing people waiting to come home, following a deadly infiltration of Israel by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Brussels, Belgium October 25, 2023. REUTERS/Johanna Geron
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Israeli Military: Confirmed Number of Gaza Hostages Rises to 224

A dinner table is set with empty chairs that symbolically represent hostages and missing people waiting to come home, following a deadly infiltration of Israel by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Brussels, Belgium October 25, 2023. REUTERS/Johanna Geron
A dinner table is set with empty chairs that symbolically represent hostages and missing people waiting to come home, following a deadly infiltration of Israel by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Brussels, Belgium October 25, 2023. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

The Israeli military said on Thursday that the number of people confirmed held hostage in the Gaza Strip since the Oct 7 cross-border raids by Hamas had reached 224, and could rise further.

Foreigners are among those captured by Hamas.

Four hostages have been released.

US President Joe Biden and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday discussed "ongoing efforts to locate and secure the release" of Americans believed held hostage in Gaza, the White House said.

Biden also stressed to Netanyahu the "importance of focusing on what comes after this crisis to include a pathway for a permanent peace between Israelis and Palestinians," the White House said.

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Arab World

Israel Fired at Vehicles Belonging to Syria's New Military, Killing 3

An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Israel Fired at Vehicles Belonging to Syria's New Military, Killing 3

An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
An Israeli soldier mans a machine gun atop a military vehicle as they leave the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, 20 December 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

The Israeli army said it fired at vehicles in Syria loaded with weapons near a buffer zone established under a 1974 agreement between Syria and Israel.
The strike in the town of Ghadir al-Bustan in Quneitra province killed three people, including two members of Syria's Military Operations Administration, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Military Operations Administration is run Syria’s de facto leadership under Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which did not comment on the attack. The attack coincided with Syrian security operations to search homes for weapons, according to the war monitor.
The Israeli military said they located vehicles carrying weapons and “fired a warning shot adjacent to the vehicles, and the vehicles drove away from the area.” Asked about casualties, the Israeli military said it had no information, reported The Associated Press.
Israeli forces captured the UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights following former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s fall last month. The military has been also conducting incursions outside the buffer zone, prompting local protests.