All news

Hamas says 13 hostages, including foreigners, killed following Israeli shelling of Gaza

Earlier, the media said that Hamas had brought to Gaza at least 64 people taken hostage during operations in Israel

CAIRO, October 13. /TASS/. The Hamas military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said that 13 hostages, including foreigners, were killed in Israeli shelling of the Gaza Strip.

"As a result of the massive Israeli shelling over the past 24 hours, six hostages were killed in the North Gaza Governorate, seven in the Gaza Governorate and three others in other governorates," the Palestinian radicals said in a statement published on their Telegram channel.

The Washington Post reported the day before that Hamas had brought to Gaza at least 64 people taken hostage during operations in Israel. According to the newspaper, 49 of the 64 appear to be civilians, including nine children, and 11 appear to be Israeli servicemen.

On October 9, the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported that various Palestinian factions had captured and were holding at least 130 hostages. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen later said that Hamas militants had taken more than 100 hostages. According to the Italian side, among those captured by radicals during the operation on Israeli territory are two people with Italian citizenship.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 when militants from the radical Palestinian Hamas movement staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem. Israel has announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip as it has been delivering rocket attacks on Gaza as well as some districts in Lebanon and Syria.

According to the latest official data, more than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed since the renewed outbreak of violence, while over 7,200 others have suffered wounds. In Israel, over 1,500 people have lost their lives and roughly 4,000 have been wounded in clashes, including on the West Bank of the Jordan River.