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Israel says a soldier believed to have been taken hostage is now presumed dead

Israel says a soldier believed to have been taken hostage is now presumed dead

The Israeli military said Monday that an Israeli-American soldier believed to have been captured alive by Hamas in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack was killed that day and his body taken to the Gaza Strip.

Hamas is still holding about a hundred hostages in Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. The Biden administration says it is again pushing for a ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages after nearly a year of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas repeatedly stalled.

Diplomats see a potential opening after last week’s ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally that began launching rocket attacks and exchanging fire with Israel the day after the October 2023 attack .

The fragile ceasefire has held despite repeated Israeli attacks that have angered Lebanese officials but have not yet provoked a response from Hezbollah. Israel says it acted to thwart potential attacks.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostage. More than 100 hostages were released during a week-long ceasefire in November 2023.

Israel’s ongoing retaliatory offensive has killed at least 44,429 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were fighters. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has devastated large parts of the coastal enclave and displaced 90% of its 2.3 million residents, often several times.

Here’s the latest:

Speaker of Lebanese Parliament says Israel has violated ceasefire with Hezbollah more than 50 times

BEIRUT – The speaker of the Lebanese parliament on Monday accused Israel of committing 54 violations of the ceasefire that ended the war between Hezbollah and Israel, and demanded an urgent intervention to put an end to what he called “blatant violations.”

Speaking to Lebanese newspaper Al Joumhouria, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri condemned Israel’s “aggressive actions”, including the alleged demolition of houses in border villages, the continued overflights of Israeli reconnaissance drones and airstrikes that have caused casualties.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Berri’s claims. Israel says that under the ceasefire it reserves the right to respond to alleged ceasefire violations.

An Israeli drone strike hit a Lebanese Army military bulldozer in the northeastern city of Hermel on Monday, wounding a soldier, the Lebanese Army said in a statement.

Also on Monday, an Israeli drone strike targeting a motorcycle in Jdeidet Marjayoun in southern Lebanon killed one person, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. One person was injured in a drone strike in Bint Jbeil province, the state news agency said.

Two people were killed in an airstrike in Marjayoun province on Saturday, Lebanese state media said.

Berri called on the technical committee set up to monitor the ceasefire to take immediate action, urging it to “commit Israel to cease its violations and withdraw without delay from the Lebanese areas.”

He said Lebanon and Hezbollah had fully complied with the terms of the ceasefire since early Wednesday morning. Berri is the leader of the Shia Amal movement, which is closely linked to the Shia militant group Hezbollah.

Israeli drone strikes reported in Lebanon, days after fragile ceasefire

BEIRUT – Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Monday that one person was killed in an Israeli drone strike that hit a motorcycle, while the Lebanese army said a soldier was injured in an Israeli attack on a military bulldozer on a army base.

The Israeli army said it carried out a series of attacks in Lebanon on Sunday and Monday, including one in the same area where the soldier was said to have been injured. It said it had hit several military vehicles in Lebanon’s Bekaa province, as well as attacks on Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon.

The incidents underscored the fragility of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah reached after nearly 14 months of cross-border fighting.

Since the ceasefire took effect on Wednesday, Israel has struck several times in response to what they say were ceasefire violations by Hezbollah. Lebanon has accused Israel of violating the deal, but so far Hezbollah has not resumed rocket fire.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Monday rejected accusations that Israel is violating the weak ceasefire agreement, saying it was responding to Hezbollah violations.

In a post on France, along with the US, helped broker the deal and is part of an international monitoring committee to ensure the parties meet their obligations.

Israel says it reserves the right under the agreement to respond to alleged ceasefire violations.

An Israeli-American soldier believed to have been taken hostage is now presumed dead

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military said Monday that an Israeli-American soldier believed to have been taken alive on Oct. 7, 2023, is now believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack and his body taken to Gaza.

Neutra, 21, was a New York resident who enlisted in the Israeli army and was captured when Hamas attacked southern Israel. Neutra’s parents, Ronen and Orna, waged a public campaign while he was believed to be alive for their son’s freedom. They spoke at protests in the US and Israel, addressed the Republican National Convention this year and maintained ties with the Biden administration in their crusade to secure their son’s release.

In a statement announcing the death, the military did not say how it reached the conclusion about Neutra’s fate. He was one of seven American Israelis still held in Gaza, four of whom are now believed to be dead. Hamas released a video of Edan Alexander this weekend, proving he was still alive.

In late summer, Israel said Hamas had killed Hersh Goldberg-Polin, another prominent Israeli-American hostage, along with five other prisoners whose bodies the Israeli army had recovered.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostage. About 100 prisoners are still being held in Gaza, about two-thirds of whom are believed to be alive.

Iranian-backed Iraqi militias support the Syrian government’s counter-offensive against insurgents

Iraqi militias backed by Iran deployed to Syria on Monday to support the government’s counteroffensive against a surprise advance by insurgents who seized the main city of Aleppo, a militia official and a war monitor said.

Insurgents led by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a two-pronged attack on Aleppo and the countryside around Idlib last week before moving towards neighboring Hama province. Government forces built a fortified defense line in northern Hama in an attempt to slow the insurgents’ momentum, while fighter jets stormed rebel-held lines on Sunday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Sunday and announced Tehran’s full support for his government. He later arrived for talks in Ankara, Turkey, one of the rebels’ main backers.

Iran is one of Assad’s top political and military supporters and has deployed military advisers and armed forces after protests against Assad’s rule turned into all-out war in 2011.

Tehran-backed Iraqi militias already in Syria mobilized and additional troops crossed the border to support them, said the Iraqi militia official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Some 200 Iraqi militiamen in pickup trucks crossed into Syria overnight through the strategic Bou Kamal, according to Britain-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. They were expected to deploy to Aleppo to support the Syrian army’s pushback against the rebels, the observer said.

The US Navy destroys Houthi missiles and drones targeting US ships in the Gulf of Aden

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — U.S. Navy destroyers shot down seven missiles and drones fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the warships and three U.S. merchant ships they were escorting through the Gulf of Aden. No damage or injuries were reported.

U.S. Central Command said late Sunday that the destroyers USS Stockdale and USS O’Kane shot down and destroyed three anti-ship ballistic missiles, three drones and one anti-ship cruise missile. The merchant ships were not identified.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying they targeted U.S. destroyers and “three U.S. military supply ships in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden.”

For months, Houthi attacks have targeted shipping through a waterway through which $1 trillion in goods pass annually due to the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza and Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon. A ceasefire was declared in Lebanon last week.

The USS Stockdale was involved in a similar attack on November 12.

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