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Israel says it killed brazen militant; Hamas warns more hostages could die

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Israel says it killed brazen militant; Hamas warns more hostages could die

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A militant filmed drinking cola from an Israeli family’s refrigerator after killing their father during the Oct. 7 assault on Israeli border communities has been killed in an aerial attack on a Hamas compound near Gaza City, the Israeli military said Tuesday.

The attack came as hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets amid demonstrations and strikes aimed at pressuring the government to negotiate freedom for hostages held by Hamas-led militants − and as Hamas issued a warning that attempts to rescue hostages could result in more of them being killed.

The Israel Defense Forces said its fighter jets targeted the compound near the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, killing eight militants including Ahmed Fozi Wadia, commander of the battalion that raided Israel’s Netiv HaAsara settlement Oct. 7 and “commanded the slaughter” of the community.

Video from the scene showed Israeli Gil Taasa running with his two sons to a shelter, then throwing himself on a grenade tossed in by the militants. Wadia is then seen drinking soda in front of the children, who were wounded in the blast and later evacuated to safety.

The IDF said its assault on the militants took place outside the hospital and that steps were taken to reduce the chance of harming civilians. The Gaza Health Ministry said an assault on the hospital Saturday killed three people.

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Developments:

∎ Michelle Rukovitzin, an intelligence systems technician in the Israeli military who was wounded in the Oct. 7 attack, became engaged to her boyfriend of four years over the weekend. Rukotvitzin, 21, who spent three months in a coma, is still recovering and remains in a wheelchair.

∎ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will pitch his position on Gaza in a speech before the United Nations General Assembly later this month, probably on Sept. 26, The Times of Israel reported, citing sources in Israel. Netanyahu is also expected to lobby world leaders in meetings during his New York visit.

∎ Two settlers from the illegal West Bank settlement of Givat Ronen were indicted on terrorism and related charges amid increased international pressure on Israel to hold extremists accountable for attacks on Palestinians. One of them, David Hasdai, was placed on the U.S. sanctions list in February.

The Palestinian death toll rose to 34 in the weeklong Israeli offensive into the occupied West Bank on Tuesday as the Palestinian Red Crescent said a 16-year-old girl was among the latest fatalities. The Israeli operation has focused in and around the cities of Jenin and Tulkarm.

The girl, identified as Lujain Osama Musleh, was reportedly killed in the town of Kafr Dan, just outside Jenin. The IDF provided no immediate details but said it was looking into the report. Two Palestinians were also killed in the city of Tulkarm on Tuesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Paramedic officer Murad Khamayseh, with the Palestinian Red Crescent in Jenin, said his unit has been distributing bread, water and other supplies amid the violence. “You are talking about seven days in a row. People were not ready for such a raid,” Khamayseh told Reuters.

‘Last message’: As Israel buried six hostages, Hamas releases propaganda video

The spokesperson for Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obaida, said militants holding hostages have been issued new and ominous instructions for when Israeli troops attempt to free hostages. Obaida said they were issued after the “Nuseirat incident,” apparently referencing a June operation in which five Israeli hostages were rescued from Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp.

“We say to everyone clearly that after the Nuseirat incident, new instructions were issued to the Mujahideen assigned to guard the prisoners regarding dealing with them if the occupation army approached their place of detention,” Obaida said in a statement. “Netanyahu’s insistence on liberating the prisoners through military pressure instead of concluding a deal will mean that they will return to their families inside coffins and their families will have to choose whether they are dead or alive.”

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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described pauses in fighting in Gaza to allow children to be vaccinated against polio as a “rare ray of hope and humanity in the cascade of horror,” his spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said Tuesday.

The World Health Organization said it was ahead of its targets for the vaccinations in Gaza on Tuesday, day three of a mass campaign, and had inoculated about 161,000 children under 10 in the first two days in central Gaza. Three-day pauses are coming for northern and southern Gaza as well. The plan calls for vaccinating about 640,000 children.

“If the parties can act to protect children from a deadly virus … surely they can and must act to protect children and all innocents from the horrors of war,” Dujarric said.

Hamas militants released a video of Eden Yerushalmi, one of the hostages whose body was found over the weekend, expressing her love for her family and urging the Israeli government to negotiate release of all the remaining captives. The government says the six were shot at close range Thursday or Friday. It is not clear when the video was filmed.

Yerushalmi, 24, was a bartender at the Nova music festival near kibbutz Re’im when Hamas attacked. Her family approved the release of a section of the video.

“Our Eden, we love you too and we miss you like crazy. You are forever in our hearts,” her family said in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Israeli protesters carried six empty coffins draped in Israeli flags past Netanyahu’s private residence in Jerusalem late Monday as Netanyahu faced increasing pressure from families to make concessions to Hamas and reach a cease-fire deal. Scuffles erupted outside Netanyahu’s residence when police intervened to disperse protesters. But in his first public address since Israel’s military recovered the bodies of six hostages over the weekend, Netanyahu pushed back.

“These murderers executed six of our hostages, they shot them in the back of the head,” Netanyahu said. “And now, after this, we’re asked to show seriousness? We’re asked to make concessions?”

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis participated in demonstrations and a general strike in recent days and President Joe Biden said Netanyahu needed to do more to secure an agreement after months of fighting. Even some quarters of his own government are pressing Netanyahu to make a deal.

“No one is more committed to freeing the hostages than me,” Netanyahu said, but added that “no one will preach to me.”

Izzat Al-Rishq, a member of the Hamas Political Bureau, dismissed Netanyahu’s statements as a “desperate attempt to showcase an illusionary victory.” He blamed Netanyahu for the failure to negotiate a cease-fire deal that would include release of the remaining hostages. Israel has said its primary goals in Gaza include crushing Hamas and gaining release of the hostages. Al-Rishq said the Israeli government has achieved none of its goals except “massacres and genocide.”

“All prisoners held by the resistance can return to their families immediately,” Al-Rishq said. “The one who is delaying their return and the one responsible for their lives is Netanyahu.”

One major apparent sticking point is the prime minister’s insistence that Israel retain control of the so-called Philadelphi corridor, a narrow strip of land along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Israel says Hamas smuggles weapons into Gaza through the corridoor. Egyptian Foreign Minister Abdelatty rejected the claim and said his country will not agree to allow Israeli control over the Rafah crossing.

Netanyahu, however, said pulling out Israeli troops would allow Iran-backed Hamas to re-arm and once again rampage into Israel: “The axis of evil needs the Philadelphi axis.”

Netanyahu described as “shameful” the announcement by the United Kingdom that it was suspending 30 out of 350 arms export licenses to Israel. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy cited a “clear risk” that some of these weapons could be used to violate international law. Netanyahu said the decision would “only embolden Hamas.”

Britain sells relatively few arms to Israel, and its sales amount to less than 1% of the Israel’s defense imports, according to Britain’s Foreign Office. The U.S. is Israel’s biggest arms supplier, accounting for about 70%. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday the U.S. will continue to do “what we have to do to support Israel’s defensive capabilities.”

“There’s been no determination by the United States that they have violated international humanitarian law,” Kirby said.

More protests were planned Tuesday evening in several parts of Israel, according to the Hostages Families Forum, which has been calling on the government to secure a deal with Hamas. The group led the Oct. 7 assault on Israel that saw militants kill almost 1,200 people and take more than 200 hostages. Israel says 101 hostages remain in Gaza, dozens of whom are thought to be dead.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war there in response to the Hamas’ attack on southern Israel, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Contributing: Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY; Reuters

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