Israeli army vows to save hostages

The Israeli army will use all means to bring back hostages still held in Gaza, its spokesman told a group of foreign journalists on Friday in the war-scarred city of Rafah.

“We need to do everything, everything we can, in all means, to bring them back home,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari told the journalists embedded with the Israeli army.

“This is one of the goals of the war, and we will achieve it.”

Rear Admiral Hagari was speaking in front of a shaft in the Tel al-Sultan neighbourhood of Rafah that connects to a tunnel where Israel says Hamas shot dead six hostages late last month.

Their deaths spurred an outpouring of grief in Israel as well as anger at the government, which critics say is not doing enough to reach a deal that would end the war in Gaza and secure the remaining hostages’ release.

The war was triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. The count includes hostages killed in captivity.

The militants also seized 251 hostages, 97 of whom are still in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliation has killed at least 41,118 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry. The UN human rights office says most of the dead have been women or children.

Israel has denied independent access to Gaza for international media during the war, now in its 12th month.

Rafah, in the far south of Gaza, has been hit hard by the fighting, and AFPTV footage on Friday showed streets lined with the bombed-out shells of buildings, many partially collapsed with rubble spilling into the streets.

Hagari said the destruction was intended to wipe out the network of tunnels under the city.

“You have a maze of tunnels here, a maze of tunnels here in Rafah, underneath the houses. This is why the destruction,” he said.

“There is even not one point left without a tunnel here in Rafah.

“In order to defeat (Hamas) we need to take control of this underground system.”

The army also showed journalists the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land that has emerged as a key sticking point in talks towards a possible ceasefire mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that retaining control of the corridor was important to stop any arms smuggling into Gaza from Egypt.

Hamas is demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal from the territory.

Hamas Frees Two Israeli Women From Gaza

Hamas on Monday (23 October) said it had freed two Israeli women who were among the more than 200 hostages taken during its 7 October rampage in southern Israel while sources said the US had advised Israel to hold off on a ground assault in the Gaza Strip.

“We decided to release them for humanitarian and poor health grounds,” Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas militant group, said on Telegram.

The Israeli prime minister’s office issued a statement confirming that the women, whom it named as Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, were handed over to the Israeli military and would be taken to a medical facility.

The two were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, near the Gaza border, along with their husbands, who were still held by Hamas, it added. Hamas freed them after releasing an American woman and her daughter on Friday.

All four were seized in the 7 October cross-border assault in which the Islamist Hamas killed 1,400 people.

In public, the United States has stressed Israel’s right to defend itself but two sources familiar with the matter said the White House, Pentagon and State Department have stepped up private appeals for caution in conversations with the Israelis.

A US priority is to gain time for negotiations to free other hostages, especially after Friday’s unexpected release of Americans Judith and Natalie Raanan on Friday, said the sources, who spoke before the hostage releases were announced on Monday.

Asked about the possibility of a ceasefire, US President Joe Biden said: “”We should have those hostages released and then we can talk.”

Israel pounded hundreds of targets in Gaza from the air on Monday as its soldiers fought Hamas militants during raids into the besieged Palestinian strip where deaths are soaring and civilians are trapped in harrowing conditions.

Gaza’s health ministry said 436 people had been killed in bombardments over the last 24 hours, most in the south of the narrow, densely populated territory, next to which Israeli troops and tanks have massed for a possible ground invasion.

The Israeli military said it had struck more than 320 targets in Gaza over 24 hours, including a tunnel housing Hamas fighters, dozens of command and lookout posts, and mortar and anti-tank missile launcher positions.

The Israeli bombardment was triggered by the 7 October assault, the bloodiest episode in a single day since the state of Israel was founded 75 years ago.

With Gaza’s 2.3 million people running short of basics, European leaders looked set to follow the United Nations and Arab nations in calling for a “humanitarian pause” in hostilities so aid could reach them.

27 Dead Ethiopians On Way To South Africa Dumped By Zambian Roadside

The bodies of 27 people, believed to be migrants from Ethiopia, have been “dumped” by the roadside in the Ngwerere area north of Zambia’s capital Lusaka.

They likely suffocated to death while in transit, Police Spokesperson Danny Mwale told the BBC.

One survivor found “gasping for air” has been rushed to a local hospital, he said.

Zambia is a transit point for migrants, mostly from the Horn of Africa, who want to reach South Africa.

Mr Mwale said residents of Ngwerere found the bodies on Sunday at 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT).

He said the police believe the migrants are Ethiopian nationals based on the identity documents found on them.

“Our preliminary investigations indicate that a total number of 28 persons, all males aged between 20 and 38, were dumped in Meanwood Nkhosi along Chiminuka road in Ngwerere area by unknown people,” the police said in a statement.

The bodies have been taken to Zambia University Teaching Hospital mortuary.

In neighbouring Malawi, the authorities discovered 25 bodies of Ethiopian migrants in a mass grave in October.

The police there said they had evidence to link the stepson of Malawi’s ex-President Peter Mutharika to the grim discovery.