Cousin of Israeli slain in captivity says military pressure is killing the hostages

Cousin of Israeli slain in captivity says military pressure is killing the hostages
Demonstrators raise placards and Israeli flags during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive since the Oct. 7 attacks near the residence of the Israeli prime minister in Jerusalem on Sept. 7, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 10 September 2024
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Cousin of Israeli slain in captivity says military pressure is killing the hostages

Cousin of Israeli slain in captivity says military pressure is killing the hostages
  • Gat’s body and those of five fellow hostages were recovered by Israeli troops on Sept 1, triggering an outpouring of grief and mass protests among Israelis demanding a hostage deal
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said increased military pressure would ultimately bring the hostages home

JERUSALEM: Gil Dickmann’s worst nightmare came true when he was told his cousin Carmel Gat, who had survived 11 months in Hamas captivity, had been killed in a tunnel in Gaza just before Israeli forces arrived.
“She was so close to hugging her father,” Dickmann, 32, told Reuters outside the Israeli Knesset, where he was lobbying lawmakers to push for a deal to secure the hostages’ release.
“We failed as a country, we failed as a community.”
Gat’s body and those of five fellow hostages were recovered by Israeli troops on Sept 1, triggering an outpouring of grief and mass protests among Israelis demanding a hostage deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said increased military pressure would ultimately bring the hostages home.
An autopsy revealed that Gat and the other five hostages had been shot in the back of the head at close range, less than 48 hours before Israeli forces recovered the bodies in a tunnel under Gaza.
“Military pressure kills the hostages,” said Dickman. “We know that for a fact.”
Hamas has said in separate statements that Israel is responsible for killing the hostages, or that Netanyahu is responsible for killing them by obstructing a ceasefire agreement.
Oct. 7 was the deadliest day for Israel in its 75 year history, with around 1,200 people killed and some 250 seized and taken as hostages into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Hamas released 105 hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in a hostage deal in November.
Carmel Gat was taken hostage on October 7th, while staying at her parents’ home in Kibbutz Be’eri, in southern Israel.
Talks to bring the hostages back and end the fighting in Gaza, where Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas has destroyed much of the Gaza Strip and killed more than 40,000 people according to Palestinian figures, have stalled.
Esther Buchshtav, whose son Yagev was killed in captivity earlier this year, said on Monday at a meeting in Israel’s parliament that a military investigation found her son had been executed by Hamas when soldiers came close to where he was being held.
Dickmann has become one of the most recognizable faces in the movement to push for a hostage deal. He has appeared often on Israeli nightly news shows and clips have circulated widely on social media showing him in screaming matches with Israeli lawmakers and giving passionate speeches in Israel’s Knesset.
Last month, he went to Israel’s southern border along with a group of hostage families who ran toward the border in an effort to gather sympathy for their cause.
The high volume of protesters who demonstrated after Gat’s death, Dickmann said, showed that the Israeli government is disconnected from the will of the people.
“The Israeli people want life,” Dickmann said. “We fight for the lives of the hostages. We don’t fight for revenge.”


UN chief calls for immediate ceasefire in Lebanon

UN chief calls for immediate ceasefire in Lebanon
Updated 01 October 2024
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UN chief calls for immediate ceasefire in Lebanon

UN chief calls for immediate ceasefire in Lebanon
  • “An all-out war must be avoided in Lebanon at all costs,” Dujarric said

UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed on Tuesday for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country to be respected, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
“An all-out war must be avoided in Lebanon at all costs,” Dujarric said in a statement, adding that Guterres spoke with Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati earlier on Tuesday, telling him the UN was ready to help those in need.
“The Secretary-General will continue his contacts, and his representatives on the ground will also continue their efforts to de-escalate the situation,” Dujarric said.


Turkiye working with 20 countries in Lebanon evacuation preparations

Passengers disembark a Bulgarian government evacuation flight from Lebanon at Sofia airport on September 30, 2024. (AFP)
Passengers disembark a Bulgarian government evacuation flight from Lebanon at Sofia airport on September 30, 2024. (AFP)
Updated 01 October 2024
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Turkiye working with 20 countries in Lebanon evacuation preparations

Passengers disembark a Bulgarian government evacuation flight from Lebanon at Sofia airport on September 30, 2024. (AFP)
  • Foreign Ministry said a coordination center had been set up to handle evacuation requests in line with the plans made by Turkish institutions

ANKARA: Turkiye is ready to carry out a possible evacuation of Turks from Lebanon via air and sea, and is working with around 20 countries on preparing for a possible evacuation of foreign nationals via Turkiye, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
It said the security conditions in Lebanon could deteriorate, as Israel launched a ground incursion into south Lebanon, and added a coordination center had been set up to handle evacuation requests in line with the plans made by Turkish institutions.
“The guidelines for the evacuation of foreign nationals via our country have also been set, the necessary preparations are being carried out with around 20 countries that have requested support so far,” it said. 


Iranian attack on Israel may be at least as big as one in April, US official says

Iranian attack on Israel may be at least as big as one in April, US official says
Updated 01 October 2024
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Iranian attack on Israel may be at least as big as one in April, US official says

Iranian attack on Israel may be at least as big as one in April, US official says
  • Iran appeared to be preparing to imminently launch a ballistic missile attack against Israel

WASHINGTON: Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Israel could be as big or potentially bigger than the one in April, if it goes ahead, although that assessment is based on initial indications and it is difficult to be certain, a US official told Reuters on Tuesday.
US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters earlier on Tuesday that Iran appeared to be preparing to imminently launch a ballistic missile attack against Israel.


2 ships damaged by Houthi drone and missile attacks in Red Sea

2 ships damaged by Houthi drone and missile attacks in Red Sea
Updated 4 sec ago
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2 ships damaged by Houthi drone and missile attacks in Red Sea

2 ships damaged by Houthi drone and missile attacks in Red Sea
  • Attacks mark end of a lull lasting nearly a month in the militia’s attacks on international shipping in Red Sea and other waters off Yemen

DUBAI: Suspected attacks Tuesday by Yemen’s Houthis targeted at least one ship in the Red Sea, likely marking their first assault on commercial shipping in weeks as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to become a regional conflict.
The attack comes as Israeli ground forces entered Lebanon after days of Israeli airstrikes that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top leaders and the earlier explosions of sabotaged electronic devices used by the Shiite militia. The Houthis had threatened “escalating military operations” targeting Israel on Monday after they apparently shot down a US military drone flying over the country.
The first attack Tuesday morning took place some 110 kilometers (70 miles) off the port city of Hodeida in the Red Sea, which has become a battlefield for shippers since the Houthis began their campaign targeting ships traveling through a waterway that once saw $1 trillion a year of cargo pass through it.
A captain on a ship saw four “splashes” near his vessel, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said in a warning. That likely would have been missiles or drones launched at the vessel.
“All crew are safe and the vessel is proceeding to (its) next port of call,” the UKMTO said.
The UKMTO later reported a second attack north of the first. The private intelligence firm Ambrey similarly reported two separate attacks. However, it wasn’t immediately clear if the same vessel had come under attack again.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the attacks. However, they sometimes take hours or days to acknowledge one of their assaults.
Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October. They have seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels.
The Houthis maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
The last attack on a merchant ship by the Houthis came on Sept. 2.
The Houthis claimed an attack targeted American warships last week. The militia fired more than a half dozen ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles and two drones at three US ships that were traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but all were intercepted by the Navy destroyers, a US official said Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet publicly released.
The Houthis also continue to launch missiles targeting Israel, drawing retaliatory airstrikes from the Israelis this weekend on Hodeida.


Israel carries out strikes in Beirut, southern suburbs, sources say

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP)
Updated 12 min 3 sec ago
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Israel carries out strikes in Beirut, southern suburbs, sources say

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP)
  • A high-rise building was hit in the city’s Jnah area, the sources said

BEIRUT: Israel carried out two attacks on Beirut on Tuesday afternoon, striking the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital and the city’s southern entrance, two security sources said.
A high-rise building was hit in the city’s Jnah area, the sources said.
The Israeli military said it was targeting the Lebanese capital and had carried out a “precise strike.”

The military said later on Tuesday that it had killed Muhammad Jaafar Qasir, a commander in charge of weapons transfers from Iran and its affiliates to Hezbollah