Could be only 50 of the 116 hostages still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip are alive since the October 7 attack in Israel. The Wall Street Journal writes this, citing US officials. “Of the approximately 250 hostages” taken that day, it says, “116 remain captive, including many people believed to be dead,” and mediators in the hostage talks and a U.S. official say that “the number of hostages still alive could be just 50″.
An assessment, continues the newspaper, which is partly based on Israeli intelligence information and which would mean that 66 of those still held hostage may be dead, 25 more than Israel has publicly acknowledged.
Of the 251 people taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 in southern Israel, the Times of Israel wrote in recent days, it is believed that 116 are still held in Gaza and that at least 41 of them are dead. During the seven days of truce last November, 105 civilians were freed, the newspaper recalled, adding that four hostages had already been freed before the start of the truce and that seven were rescued by the troops. The bodies of 19 hostages were returned to Israel, including those of three people killed by the military by mistake.
Eight Americans remain hostage in Gaza, including three people who died according to Israel, writes the Wall Street Journal today, reporting ‘no comment’ from the Israeli prime minister’s office and the military, as well as from the US, from the office of the director of national intelligence. Estimates of the number of deceased hostages, the newspaper adds, continue to worsen due to the conditions of captivity, the injuries sustained during the October 7 attack and other causes.
Hezbollah threatens Cyprus and warns Israel
The leader of HezbollahSayyed Hassan Nasrallah, he warned of a war “without rules or limits” in the event of an Israeli offensive on a large scale against the Lebanese militia, threatening that Cyprus could become a target whether it will allow Israel to use its territory in any conflict. “We are prepared for the worst case scenario and Israel knows it,” he said in his speech broadcast by Lebanese media. “The Israeli enemy already knows what awaits him,” Nasrallah continued, underlining that “more than 100 thousand fighters” are ready to mobilize.
“What we have done on this front is unprecedented, it is an unprecedented defeat for the entity. We have clear objectives and the ability to reach targets that will shake the very foundations of the entity”, added Nasrallah, according to whom if Israel were to unleash “a total war” with Lebanon, “the situation in the Mediterranean will change completely”. “Let the enemy know once again that if open war is declared on Lebanon, we will wage it without limits,” the Hezbollah leader chanted.
Nasrallah then has threatened Cyprus of retaliation if the island decided to make its airports and bases available to Israel in the event of war with the Lebanese movement allied with Iran. “Opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is a party to the war and the resistance will consider it a party to the war,” Nasrallah said in a speech broadcast by Lebanese media.
On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that in the event of a ”total war” involving Lebanon as well, the Shiite movement of ”Hezbollah will be destroyed”. In a note released by his office, Katz said that ”we are very close to the moment when we will decide to change the rules of the game against Hezbollah and Lebanon. In a total war, Hezbollah will be destroyed and Lebanon will be hit hard”. Nasrallah however recalled that ”the Lebanese front is strongly present on the negotiating table”.
The President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulidis, responded to the threats from the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, saying that “Cyprus is in no way involved in hostilities.” According to the president, the Mediterranean island “is part of the solution and not of the problem”.
Israeli forces would Aziz Dweik arrested in Hebron, West Bank. This was reported by the Times of Israel, which relaunched news arriving from the Palestinian side according to which Dweik, head of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was arrested during the night in his hometown a few days after his release at the end of eight months of detention following the arrest after the October 7 attack in Israel. A member of Hamas, he has been head of the Legislative Council, the Palestinian parliament, since 2006.
Tel Aviv blocked by new protest
Protests continue in Israel as part of the week of mobilization to put pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to go back to the polls and reach an agreement that will lead to the release of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7 attack in Israel . Relatives of the hostages, their supporters and other activists block the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, Israeli media reported at the start of the fifth day of protests in the country. “Agreement, now,” the protesters demand.
