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Middle East conflict

Hamas militants surrender to Israeli troops in great numbers — Hersh

According to an American journalist, among those who surrendered was a senior aide to the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinjar, who was one of the masterminds of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7

NEW YORK, December 16. /TASS/. Israel is surprised at how many Hamas militants are surrendering to Israeli troops, US investigative journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh wrote on his Substack blog, citing sources.

"The biggest surprise has been the number of Hamas fighters in the south who have chosen to surrender to Israeli troops. An American official with access to sensitive information said as many as seven hundred Hamas soldiers <…> chose to surrender, in lieu of being shot, in the past week or so," he wrote.

According to the official cited by the journalist, Israel did not expect this, expecting "Hamas to fight to the end." Among those who have surrendered was senior aide to Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinjar, who was one of the masterminds of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. "Sinjar’s aide, whose name I could not learn, was said to be in charge of communications for Hamas," Hersh added.

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Palestine Israel

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Frank Giletti asked to speed up the commissioning of previously ordered Rafale planes to the armed forces

Russian PM to attend UN Climate Change Conference in Baku

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African countries interested in joining work in BRICS format — Russian MFA

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Not all Republicans support Trump in refusing further military aid to Kiev — newspaper

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DPR head Pushilin visits Ugledar, says town badly destroyed

Denis Pushilin added that "it is almost impossible to find an undamaged building"

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Ukraine imposes sanctions on maintenance services of two Moscow airports

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Ukraine moves medics, non-combat personnel to infantry to counter Russian advance

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Medvedev suggests that Elon Musk launch campaign to amend US Constitution

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First S-550 air defense systems enter service in Russia — source

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Russian forces gain foothold near Kupyansk as Kiev begins to retreat

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Russia to ensure parity in response to US missile defense system in Poland — Kremlin

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Russia supports Mali's appeal to UN Security Council on Kiev's actions — MFA

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Russian lower house passes third reading of bill banning child-free propaganda

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FACTBOX: What we know about night-time drone attacks on Russian regions

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Musk doubles down on his opinion about 'endless war' in Ukraine

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Ukraine offers up to 750,000 dollars to Russian pilot for hijacking helicopter — TV

The correspondent also reported that the Ukrainian intelligence officer obtained the phone number of the pilot's wife and persuaded her to leave Russia before the helicopter was hijacked

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Baltic Sea will never turn into 'NATO lake' — Russian MFA

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Japan remains ready to sign peace treaty with Russia — top diplomat

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Breakthrough near Krasnoarmeysk could enable Russian push toward the Dnieper — expert

Markus Reisner noted that many of the Ukrainian units on this section of the frontline are understaffed by 50%

Ukraine aims to call up 1 mln people in eastern areas by end of 2024 — official

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