Israel-Palestine Escalation
Israel was hit by an unprecedented rocket attack from the Gaza Strip on October 7, with Hamas movement's troops infiltrating border areas. On October 8, the Israeli government announced that it had invoked Article 40 of the Basic Law, which means the country was officially in a state of war.
A Red Cross vehicle carrying Israeli hostages drives by at the Gaza Strip crossing into Egypt in Rafah on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023. - Sputnik Africa

Live Updates: Hamas Says 3 Israeli Hostages Killed in Previous IDF Bombing of Gaza Strip

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UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - Late Monday, an agreement was reached between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas on a two-day extension of the humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip to exchange some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Russia is worried over the Israeli government’s statements about their plans to clean out the Gaza Strip after the humanitarian pauses, the Russian Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Chumakov told the UN General Assembly members during a meeting on Palestine.
"We are very concerned by some statements of representatives of the Israeli leadership regarding plans to continue to clean out the Gaza Strip intensively after the humanitarian pauses finish," Chumakov said Tuesday.
The resumption of hostilities would worsen the humanitarian disaster, he added.
Last week, Qatar mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas on a four-day truce and an exchange of some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. On Monday, Qatar announced that an agreement had been reached between Israel and Hamas on a two-day extension of the truce.
On October 7, the Palestinian movement Hamas launched a surprise rocket attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, resulting in casualties and taking captives in nearby Israeli military sites and communities. The movement cited "Israeli provocations and occupation of Palestinian territories" as the reasons for its operation, dubbed Al-Aqsa Flood.
In response, Israel launched retaliatory strikes, implemented a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, and later initiated a ground incursion into the area, home to more than 2.5 million Palestinians.
Last week, the sides launched a four-day truce to exchange some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as allow the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza, a home to over 2.5 million people. The truce was extended on Monday for two more days.
The conflict has so far killed an estimated 1,200 people in Israel and more than 16,000 in Gaza, including more than 6,000 children, according to Israeli and Gazan officials respectively.
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18:00 29.11.2023
Russia, UAE Discuss Situation in Middle East, Timetable for Further Contacts - Moscow
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has discussed the Israeli-Palestinian issue with UAE Ambassador to Russia Mohammed Al Jaber, as well as has touched upon the key topics for further development of the relations between Moscow and Abu Dhabi, including the timetable for future contacts, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
"They [Bogdanov and Jaber] exchanged views on the key issues of the Middle Eastern agenda, focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," the statement read.
They also discussed further developments of the multifaceted cooperation between Moscow and Abu Dhabi, including the timetable for future meetings, the statement read.
17:59 29.11.2023
Saudi Foreign Minister Says Arab World Won’t Encourage Palestinians Out of Their Lands
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – The Arab world will neither encourage Palestinians to leave their lands, nor will it work with anyone whose agenda includes their departure, Saudi Arabia Minister of Foreign Affairs Faisal bin Farhan said on Wednesday.
“We are not going to encourage them [Palestinians], or force them to leave their land, and we're not going to work with anyone who has that agenda,” bin Farhan said during media stakeout from the UN.
Palestinians have a right to their own land, and to live in safety, security and dignity in Palestine, the Saudi Minister said. That is what the Arab world will push for and work towards achieving, he added.
The comments were made in regard to the issue of Palestinian refugees, and criticism coming from some parts directed at Arab countries for not properly addressing the plight of Palestine by refusing to take refugees.
“The weight has to be lifted, but it is not to be lifted by the Arab world.” Bin Farhan said, adding that it could be achieved by stopping the killing, ending the blockade and by allowing enough humanitarian assistance to enter Gaza.
17:58 29.11.2023
Wang in Meeting With Guterres Calls for Two-State Solution in Mideast – Foreign Ministry
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – China’s foreign minister during his meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York on Wednesday reiterated his call for a comprehensive ceasefire in Israel and Gaza and restarting two-state solution talks, according to a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs release.
“Wang Yi said that UN Resolution 2712 is a first step toward a ceasefire and a good start to resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict through political means … the Chinese position is very clear: first, the war simply must not be restarted, a comprehensive ceasefire should be implemented to avoid an even greater humanitarian catastrophe, and detained people should be released,” the release said.
Second, Wang said humanitarian aid should enter Gaza unobstructed, with more entry points and an effective supervision mechanism established.
Third, Wang called for talks for a two-state solution to be restarted as soon as possible. He called for convening a more authoritative, larger-scale, and effective international peace conference as soon as possible to formulate a roadmap and timetable, with the UN playing a leading role.
17:57 29.11.2023
China Hopes Pause in Gaza Will Not Be Hiatus Before Renewed Israeli Offensive - Wang
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - China hopes that the last days of the current ceasefire in Gaza will not be a hiatus before a renewed Israeli offensive, but will lay the groundwork for diplomatic efforts for a comprehensive ceasefire, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday.
“China strongly hopes that the past days of pause will not be a hiatus before a new round of offensive but rather the beginning of further diplomatic efforts for a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire. China appeals to the international community to take a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire as an overriding priority,” Wang said during a meeting of the UN Security Council.
17:57 29.11.2023
China Calls for Facilitating Direct Talks Between Israel, Palestine - Wang Yi
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - The international community should step up diplomatic efforts and facilitate direct talks between Israel and Palestine, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday.
"China calls for ramping up international and regional diplomatic efforts, reshaping credible multilateral processes, revitalizing the political prospects of the two state solution and restarting direct negotiations between Palestine and Israel," Wang told a UN Security Council members in New York.
17:56 29.11.2023
China to Provide Gaza With Another Batch of Humanitarian Supplies - Foreign Minister
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - China will soon send additional humanitarian aid to Gaza, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday.
“I'd like to announce that the Chinese government will provide to Gaza another batch of emergency humanitarian supplies,” Yi told the council's members in New York.
17:55 29.11.2023
Chinese Foreign Minister Urges Efforts Toward Lasting, Comprehensive Ceasefire in Gaza
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on the UN Security Council to work toward a lasting and comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza with the "greatest urgency" amid ongoing hostilities.
"We should work for a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire with the greatest urgency. There is no safe area under gunfire and letting the fighting drag on would only bring more deaths and damage," Wang said during a UN Security Council meeting. "There is no firewall in Gaza either, and resumed fighting would only most likely turn into a calamity."
17:54 29.11.2023
Guterres Says 111 UN Personnel Killed in Gaza Since Start of War
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that 111 UN personnel have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war started between Israel and Hamas in October.
"Since the beginning of the hostilities, 111 members of our UN family have been killed in Gaza," Guterres said during a UN Security Council meeting. "This represents the largest loss of personnel in the history of our organization."
17:53 29.11.2023
Palestine Foreign Minister Calls for Int'l. Protection, Action to End Israeli Impunity
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad Al-Maliki called for international protection of Palestinians and for undertaking action to end Israeli impunity as well as prevent future war crimes and crimes against humanity that are taking place daily amid Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip.
“We need international protection and international action to end impunity, so as to prevent the recurrence of these crimes that occur daily, and in broad daylight,” Al-Maliki said during a UN Security Council meeting.
17:53 29.11.2023
Iran's Khamenei Says Political Situation in Middle East Changing Not in US's Favor
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The political situation in the Middle East is changing not in favor of the United States, as the region is gaining increasingly more sovereignty, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday.
"The situation in the Middle East, its political geography are changing, in favor of the resistance front [against Israel], rather the US," Khamenei was quoted as saying by the IRNA news agency. "This new map that is steadily gaining sovereignty in the region, has several features ... Its first feature is de-Americanization."
The Iranian supreme leader elaborated that the "de-Americanization" meant not a complete severance of diplomatic ties with the US but rather the weakening of its influence in the region. Palestinian movement Hamas's operation against Israel also disrupted US plans in the Middle East, Khamenei said.
17:34 29.11.2023
UN Chief Says Conflict Has Forced Over 80% of Gazans Out of Homes
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that over 80% of Gaza residents have been forced to leave their homes amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
"Beyond the many civilians killed and wounded, that I have spoken of, 80% of Gaza’s people have now been forced from their homes," Guterres told a UN Security Council meeting on Palestine.
The growing number of people has been pushed out to the southern part of Gaza but nowhere is safe, he added.
17:27 29.11.2023
Humanitarian Aid, Fuel Delivered to Gaza Strip 'Utterly Insufficient' - Guterres
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The level of humanitarian assistance and fuel that is being delivered to the Gaza Strip is "utterly insufficient" to meet the needs of the 2.3 million Palestinian residents, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday.
"The level of aid to Palestinians in Gaza remains completely inadequate to meet the huge needs of more than two million people," Guterres said during a UN Security Council meeting. "Although the total volume of fuel allowed into Gaza has also increased, it remains utterly insufficient to sustain basic operations."
17:25 29.11.2023
Israel to Resume Fighting If Current Possibilities for Hostage Return Exhausted - Netanyahu
TEL AVIV (Sputnik) - Israel will resume the fighting in the Gaza Strip as soon as all the current possibilities for the return of hostages are exhausted, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
"In a week we have achieved great success – the return of dozens of our abducted. A week ago it might have seemed unrealistic, but we have achieved it. But in the last few days, I have been hearing the question — will Israel return to fighting after this stage of the return of our abductees is completed? I answer unequivocally — yes," Netanyahu said in a video message to the nation.
17:23 29.11.2023
Israeli Foreign Ministry Threatens Qatar With 'Settling Scores' for Legitimizing Hamas
TEL AVIV (Sputnik) - Israel will address what it considers efforts by Qatar to legitimize Hamas, but only after the hostage release deal expires, Israeli Deputy Director General for Strategic Affairs in Foreign Ministry Joshua Zarka said on Wednesday.
"We will settle scores with Qatar, which played a role in everything related to Hamas’s positioning and the legitimization of its activity. We need it [Qatar] in the issue of hostage release, but when this process is finished, we will settle scores with it. We will persecute in every possible way everybody who was on Hamas's side and everybody who still is on its side," Zarka said on the military-run Galei Zahal radio.
Last week, Qatar mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas on a four-day truce and an exchange of some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. On Monday, Qatar announced that an agreement had been reached between Israel and Hamas on a two-day extension of the truce.
Over the five days of the truce Israel was ale to secure the release of 61 Israelis and 25 foreign citizens held hostage by Hamas.
17:22 29.11.2023
CIA Warns Staff Against Pro-Palestine Social Media Posts - Reports
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The CIA has warned its staff against posting political views on social media following a senior official’s pro-Palestine post, NBC News reported on Wednesday.
The internal e-mail was "simply a reminder of existing policy," an official told NBC.
The CIA’s associate deputy director for analysis had posted on social media an image of a man waving a Palestinian flag. She has not been disciplined for the post, NBC reported.
The news came amid sharp divides within the US federal government over the Biden administration’s support of Israel’s war on Gaza. Hundreds of US federal government employees have endorsed an open letter calling for a ceasefire, hundreds of USAID employees signed a similar letter, and several dozen State Department staffers have issued multiple internal dissent cables.
17:21 29.11.2023
Blinken Says US Wants to See Humanitarian Pause in Gaza Strip Further Extended
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United States would like to see the humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip prolonged as it would facilitate the release of more hostages and the provision of additional humanitarian assistance to people in the enclave, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.
"With regard to the [humanitarian] pause [in the Gaza Strip], look, we would like to see the pause extended, because what it has enabled, first and foremost, is hostages being released, coming home, being reunited with their families. It's also enabled us to surge humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza that is desperately needed. So, its continuation, by definition, means that more hostages will be coming home, more assistance will be getting in. So, clearly it is something that we want," Blinken told a press conference following the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.
16:53 29.11.2023
Tehran Says US Delay With Visas Deprived Iran's Delegation of Joining UNSC Session on Gaza
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Wednesday that the Iranian delegation would not be able to participate in the UN Security Council session in New York dedicated to the situation in Gaza as its members were issued US entry visas too late.
“The US has issued visas to me and all the accompanying individuals today almost at 1 a.m. Tehran time, so in fact I did not have an opportunity to join the session taking place in New York [in the morning on Wednesday],” the foreign chief was quoted by the governmental Telegram channel.
On Tuesday, Abdollahian said that the date of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to the Turkish capital had been postponed due to the session of the UNSC on Gaza and was planned to be held after their foreign ministers get back from New York.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that China would chair a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council on the Israeli-Palestinian issue on November 29.
14:46 29.11.2023
Hamas’ Military Wing Says 3 Israeli Hostages Killed in Previous IDF Bombing of Gaza Strip
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The military wing of Hamas, Al Qassam Brigades, said on Thursday that previous Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip has killed three Israeli hostages.
“The Al-Qassam Brigades announce the killing of 3 Zionist detainees as a result of a previous Zionist bombing of the Gaza Strip: - Sherry Silverman Bibas - Kefir Bypass -And Ariel Bibas,” the military wing wrote on its Telegram channel.
12:57 29.11.2023
Pope Francis Expresses Hope for Further Extension of Truce in Gaza Strip
VATICAN CITY (Sputnik) - Pope Francis said on Wednesday he was hopeful that the ceasefire between Palestinian movement Hamas and Israel would be prolonged to allow more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
"Please, let's continue to pray for the difficult situation in Israel and Palestine. I hope that the truce in Gaza will be extended so that all hostages will be released and access for necessary humanitarian aid will be ensured," the Pope told the general audience in the Vatican.
The 86-year-old pontiff took part in the hour-long audience despite being ill, but had his remarks read out by an aide. At the start of the weekly event, the pontiff said he "was still not feeling well."
Last week, the Holy See announced that all previously scheduled audiences with the Pope had been canceled "due to a mild flu-like condition." Later, Holy See spokesman Matteo Bruni said that the Pope's condition was "good and stable," adding that he had no fever and was taking antibiotics.
A CT scan ruled out pneumonia, but showed pulmonary inflammation causing some breathing difficulties, the spokesman stated. The illness caused him to scrap a working trip to Dubai for the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28).
12:53 29.11.2023
Russia Alarmed by Reports on Israel's Plans to Use Chemical Weapons - Envoy to OPCW
THE HAGUE (Sputnik) - Russia is concerned about the Israeli military's plans to use nerve agent or other chemical weapons to flush out the enemy from underground tunnels, Russian Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Alexander Shulgin said on Wednesday.
During his address at the OPCW session, the Russian representative called media reports that Israeli troops plan to use nerve gas or other chemical weapons to flush out the enemy from underground tunnels under the control of the US special forces from the Delta Force unit.
Russia shares the call made in the statement of Palestine and other signatory states to the technical secretariat of the OPCW to be in full readiness to take, if necessary, appropriate measures, as well as to promptly and effectively respond to possible incidents in the future and requests from Palestine, he added.
Russia urges Israel to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention as soon as possible, Shulgin said.
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