Approaching Israeli troops led to execution of Hamas hostages: report
An Israeli investigation found that approaching IDF forces likely caused Hamas to execute six hostages whose bodies were found in a Rafah tunnel in Gaza. Follow updates.
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The Israeli army said it had concluded that military operations in southern Gaza likely led to the killing by Hamas of six hostages in August.
In late August, after troops found the six hostages’ bodies in an underground shaft in Rafah, the military said they were killed just before soldiers reached them.
Netanyahu said at the time that the six - Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino - were “executed” with a bullet “to the head”.
The military probe into their deaths found that Israeli “ground activities in the area, although gradual and cautious, had a circumstantial influence on the terrorists’ decision to murder the six hostages”, the army said in a statement on Tuesday.
It said that “based on the investigation, the hostages were murdered by gunfire from Hamas terrorists” while Israeli forces were operating in the Tel al-Sultan area.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group responded to the army’s statement by calling for action to bring back all remaining hostages.
“The time has come to bring back all the hostages. We need a deal that will ensure the return of all hostages within a quick and predetermined timeframe,” it said in a statement.
Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, have taken place in Doha in recent days, rekindling hope of an agreement that has proven elusive.
On Monday, Netanyahu told parliament that there was “some progress” in the negotiations, and on Tuesday his office said Israeli negotiators had returned from Qatar after “significant negotiations”.
“The team is returning for internal consultations in Israel regarding the continuation of negotiations for the return of our hostages,” it added.
Hamas and other Palestinian groups have also reported progress this week towards a ceasefire.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, during which militants seized 251 hostages.
Ninety-six of them are still held in Gaza, including 34 the army says are dead. The attack resulted in 1,208 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 45,338 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
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‘HEADS OF THE HUTHIS’: ISRAEL’S VOW OF VENGEANCE
Israel has vowed to take the heads of Huthi leadership after the Yemeni rebel group claimed responsibility for sending a ballistic missile to the heart of Israel.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said they would not only target Huthi infrastructure but the masterminds behind the missile fired early Tuesday which was shot down after warning sirens sparked mass panic.
“Just as we took care of Sinwar in Gaza, Haniyeh in Tehran and Nasrallah in Beirut, we will deal with the heads of the Huthis in Sana’a or anywhere in Yemen,” Mr Katz said referring to the now dead leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah.
“We will act both against their infrastructure and against them to remove the threat.
“Whoever sponsors the Huthi terror in Hodeida or Sana’a will pay the full price.”
Mr Katz’s comments came as Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar sent a letter to US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who is also chair of the UN Security Council, urging her to call an emergency session due to the escalations by the rebel group.
“I must underscore that the persistent acts of hostility by the Huthis are in flagrant violation of international law,” Mr Sa’ar wrote.
“(They are) an ongoing threat to international peace and security.”
The letter was sent a day after he told Israeli diplomats to lobby their host nations to classify the Huthis as a terror group.
On Tuesday the Huthis said in a statement that they had targeted a military site “of the Israeli enemy in the occupied area of Yaffa with a hypersonic ballistic missile”, using the Arabic name for Jaffa, part of Tel Aviv.
The Huthi rebels have launched dozens of strikes targeting Israel in support of their Palestinian allies Hamas since their October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.
The Yemeni rebels have also targeted shipping around the Red Sea, placing a chokehold on one of the world’s most vital shipping routes.
‘CRUSH THE FORCES OF EVIL’
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the country’s military to destroy the infrastructure of Iran-backed Huthi rebels, after the Yemeni group fired missiles at Israel last week.
“I have instructed our forces to destroy the infrastructure of Huthis because anyone who tries to harm us will be struck with full force. We will continue to crush the forces of evil with strength and ingenuity, even if it takes time,” Netanyahu said in parliament.
It comes as Netanyahu also told politicians on Monday that “some progress” had been made in negotiations to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza.
“Everything we are doing cannot be disclosed. We are taking actions to bring them back. I wish to say cautiously that there has been some progress, and we will not stop acting until we bring them all home,” Netanyahu said in parliament, as talks to reach a deal have been renewed in recent days.
MISSILE TARGETS TEL AVIV
The Houthis struck Israel’s commercial hub with what they claimed was a ballistic missile, forcing many to leave their homes following the pre-dawn attack.
The Iranian-backed Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians as the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza rages on.
The war began on October 7, 2023, following Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel. Netanyahu’s latest comments came after the United States said it struck targets in Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa on Saturday, hours after the Houthis hit Tel Aviv.
Among the targets was a Houthi missile storage centre and a “command-and-control facility,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
US FIGHTER JET DOWNED
A US fighter jet has been shot down over the Red Sea in a “friendly fire” strike after the warplane was sent on a secret Houthi mission.
The incident has been dubbed the most serious to threaten troops in over a year of US targeting Yemen’s terrorist Houthi rebels.
Two pilots had to eject from their stricken aircraft and were thankfully recovered alive, with one suffering minor injuries, The Sun reports.
The Red Sea corridor has become increasingly dangerous over the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis while US and European military coalitions patrol the area.
‘CRUELTY’: ISRAELI STRIKES KILL 28 INCLUDING CHILDREN IN GAZA
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 28 Palestinians, including at one family’s home and at a school building the military said was used by Hamas.
More than 14 months into the Israel-Hamas war, there was no let-up in the violence in the Gaza Strip even as Palestinian groups involved in the fighting said a ceasefire deal was “closer than ever”.
Pope Francis condemned deadly bombardment a day earlier that killed several children as “cruelty”, prompting a sharp response from Israel which accused the pontiff of double standards.
On the ground in Gaza, civil agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said that at least 13 people were killed in an air strike on a house in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah belonging to the Abu Samra family.
Mr Bassal said that eight people including four children were killed in the attack on the school, which had been repurposed as a shelter for Palestinians displaced by the war.
The Israeli military said it had carried out a “precise strike” overnight targeting Hamas militants operating there.
—With AFP
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