The armed wing of the Palestinian group Hamas said its militants killed an Israeli hostage and wounded two women in two separate incidents in Gaza, the Guardian reports.
On October 7, Palestinian militants captured 251 hostages during an attack on Israel that started the ongoing war, 111 of whom are still in Gaza, while the Israeli military says 39 of them are dead.
"In two separate incidents, two Hamas soldiers tasked with guarding enemy prisoners opened fire on a Zionist prisoner, killing him instantly, while seriously wounding two female prisoners," said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the Al Qassam Brigades.
The statement, published on Telegram, did not reveal the identity of the hostages or when or where the incidents took place.
Abu Obeida said that Hamas has formed a committee to investigate these shootings.
"In the last few minutes, the terrorist Hamas has released a written report claiming that in two separate incidents, Hamas operatives have killed an Israeli prisoner and wounded two female prisoners. At this stage, there is no intelligence document that can confirm or deny Hamas' claims. We are continuing to investigate credibility of the statement and we will provide information when we have it," an Israeli army spokesman said on the X social network.
Israeli military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing earlier Monday: "We do not forget for a moment the hostages cruelly held by Hamas in Gaza. We are deeply concerned about their physical and mental condition, given the time that has passed and the severe the conditions of their detention".
The October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1.198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's military offensive in response in the Gaza Strip has since killed at least 39.897 people, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not provide separate figures for civilian and militant deaths.
Iran insists on its right to an "appropriate and deterrent response" against Israel, while Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant told his American counterpart that Tehran is preparing for a major military attack, the Guardian reports.
The United States has announced that it has ordered the deployment of the USS Jodhraj, a nuclear-powered submarine armed with guided missiles, to the Middle East amid growing concerns over Iran and its allies' determination to avenge Israel's killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Fearing an attack could be imminent, the commander of Israel's air force, Major General Tomer Barr, issued an order banning professional officers from traveling abroad on vacation, a day after it was reported that soldiers traveling to Georgia and Azerbaijan had been told to immediately return to Israel.
Earlier, the leaders of France, Germany and Britain urged Tehran to refrain from any revenge attacks that would further escalate regional tensions after the killing of Haniyeh and a Hezbollah leader in Beirut last month.
A joint statement signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer backed calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, the return of dozens of hostages held by Hamas and the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid.
"The fighting must stop immediately, and all hostages still held by Hamas must be freed. The people of Gaza need immediate and unhindered delivery and distribution of aid," the statement said.
Axios reports that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said in a conversation with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday that Iran is preparing for a major military attack on Israel in the next few days. In a statement on Monday, Galant's ministry confirmed that the conversation took place overnight. Galant and Austin are said to have discussed operational and strategic coordination and the readiness of the Israeli military to deal with Iranian threats.
In a statement after the talks, the Pentagon said Austin had ordered the acceleration of the deployment of the Abraham Lincoln Strike Group to the region.
"Austin reiterated the commitment of the United States to take all possible steps to defend Israel and pointed to the strengthening of US military forces and capabilities throughout the Middle East in light of escalating regional tensions," the statement said.
The US military has already said it will deploy additional fighter jets and naval ships to the Middle East as Washington seeks to bolster Israel's defenses.
German Chancellor Olaf Solz expressed to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkiyan "great concern about the danger of a regional fire in the Middle East", reports Radio Slobodna Evropa.
In the press release of the German chancellor, it is stated that Scholz had a telephone conversation with the Iranian president.
According to the statement, Soltz "appealed to the president to do everything possible to prevent further military escalation", expressed great concern about the situation in the region and said that "the spiral of violence in the Middle East must now be stopped".
Gaza officials told AFP on Monday that they had identified 75 bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli attack on a school building over the weekend, where rescuers reported at least 93 dead, the Guardian reports.
The Israeli military said Saturday's dawn attack on the Al Tabin religious school compound in Gaza killed at least 19 Palestinian militants who were using the school as a base.
The AFP could not independently confirm the number of casualties.
"In the attack on the Al Tabin school, there are 93 dead, of which 75 have been identified. The rest have not yet been identified because some bodies were dismembered and burned in the bombing," Gaza Civil Protection Agency spokesman Mahmoud Basal told AFP.
He added that among the dead were 11 children and six women.
Amjad Aliva, an emergency physician at Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza, confirmed that 75 people killed in the attack had been identified.
"There are still bodies (whose identities are unknown) that have been completely destroyed. Also, some families have been displaced to the south (of the Gaza Strip) and cannot come to identify their loved ones," he told AFP.
Meanwhile, Israeli news site Vala, citing the military, reported that 38 militants were killed in the attack.
Asked by AFP about this report, the Israeli army said it would comment later.
A hospital in southern Gaza has received the bodies of 13 people, including a child, who were killed in Israeli attacks on Khan Younis, the Associated Press reports.
The attacks came after Israel ordered mass evacuations from Gaza's second-largest city in recent days, claiming Palestinian militants were firing rockets from the area. Khan Younis suffered extensive destruction earlier this year during a major Israeli air and ground offensive.
An AP reporter counted the bodies at the nearby Naser Hospital and saw funerals being held on Monday morning.
Among the dead was a doctor who was killed along with two other people in an attack on his house, according to hospital records.
Reuters reports that the Israeli Air Force has suspended foreign travel for its members, a military spokesman said.
The region is bracing for possible attacks on Israel by Iran and its allies following the assassination of senior members of the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.
The army's instructions for the safety of the general public remained unchanged.
Israel's finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, responded to the statement of the EU's high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borelj, who mentioned this far-right politician when calling for the consideration of sanctions against Israel on Sunday.
Writing on the X social network, Smotrič accused Borelj of "taking the side of terrorism".
"Borelj, who continues to mislead the public by claiming that the revenge bombing of Gaza by the Israeli army (IDF) is worse than that carried out by Nazi Germany, and who had the audacity to call the IDF's operation Arnon, aimed at rescuing hostages, ' massacre of the Palestinian people', he clearly showed whose side he was on. His words are a clear and dangerous indication that he is siding with terrorism, and make no mistake, he does not care at all about the Palestinian people.
If Borelj really cared about the Palestinians, he would oppose the wall that Egypt built around Gaza to close it. It would help those Gazans trying to escape the brutality of Hamas and start a new and secure life within the EU.
Instead, in order to please Hamas supporters in Europe, Borelj decided that he was even willing to sacrifice the people of Gaza just to attack Israel while waging a war for all of Western civilization against the barbaric genocidal Hamas, as well as the Iranian axis of evil that threatens the entire Western society. ", wrote Smotrič.
He added that the time will come when Europe will be ashamed of Borelj and the double standards that he and many of his friends applied to Israel, while siding with the real terrorists.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas, announced today that 39.897 people have died since the beginning of the war.
The number of victims in the past 24 hours has not been announced today.
The ministry statement added that 92.152 people were wounded in the Palestinian territory since October 7 last year, when the war began.
(Beta)
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