Body of hostage Yair Yaakov recovered from Gaza, Israeli media reports
CAIRO, June 11 (Reuters) - The body of Israeli hostage Yair Yaakov was recovered from the Gaza strip, Israeli media reported on Wednesday.
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Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Iranian state media confirms killing of Revolutionary Guards chief in Israeli strike
June 13 (Reuters) - Iranian state media confirmed on Friday the killing of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Commander Hossein Salami in an Israeli strike.
BBC News
11 hours ago
- BBC News
Hamas faces leadership vacuum with demise of Gaza 'War Council'
With the confirmed killing of Hamas's top military commander Mohammad Sinwar in an Israeli strike, a chapter has closed on the elite leadership group in Gaza that orchestrated the events of 7 October, demise follows the confirmed killings of other central figures who sat on what came to be known inside Hamas as the War his brother Yahya, Marwan Issa and a fifth unidentified figure formed the clandestine core that decided on and directed the unprecedented assault on Israel - one which shook the region and set off the conflict still unfolding in War Council, sometimes also known as the Quintet Council, operated under conditions of extreme security and meetings between its members were exceedingly rare. Instead, communication occurred through older technology deemed more secure, like cable phones, or via trusted intermediaries, all in an effort to minimise the risk of interception or level of secrecy was not just tactical: it reflected the council's critical role in Hamas's strategic decision-making, especially in preparation for what became the most complex and deadly attack in the organisation's history. The known members of the council included:Mohammed Deif - the commander of Hamas's military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, who is believed to have masterminded the 7 October attack. He was killed in an Israeli air strike in July 2024Yahya Sinwar - the political leader of Hamas in Gaza and its most influential decision-maker in recent years. He was killed in a firefight with Israeli troops in October 2024Mohammad Sinwar - a senior military figure and Deif's trusted lieutenant. Israel said this week that it had identified his body in Gaza following an air strike in MayMarwan Issa - Deif's deputy and a vital link between Hamas's military and political spheres. He was killed in an Israeli air strike in March 2024A fifth figure - whose identity remains unknown to the public - who was in charge of organising Hamas's security apparatus. He was targeted in assassination attempts before the war and an air strike during it, and suffered such severe injuries that he can no longer communicate or carry out any activities, according to one source The 7 October attack marked a seismic shift in the Israeli-Palestinian scale and brutality of the attack stunned observers worldwide - not just for its immediate impact, but for its unprecedented military preparations took years - including extensive tunnel construction and the steady accumulation of rockets and weapons - but few analysts, regional actors, or even rival Palestinian factions foresaw the magnitude of the group had long maintained strict control over Gazans and had often imposed harsh economic measures, including heavy taxes, on an already impoverished population to fund its military even within the movement, there appears to have been a limited understanding of the scale and consequences of the plan hatched by the War Council. Its demise raises a profound question: what exactly drove its members to pursue a course that many Palestinians have described as politically suicidal?With Israel's overwhelming military response and the international isolation that followed, the 7 October attack has increasingly been viewed as a desperate gamble - one that lacked a clear political exit strategy and led to massive suffering for Gaza's civilian with most of the core decision-makers dead, uncovering the deeper motivations and strategic calculus behind the attack may no longer be internal debates occurred within the council? Were there dissenting voices? Was this a bid for regional relevance, a provocation timed with regional shifts, or a last-ditch effort to break a long-standing siege?Answers to these questions may have died with the men who conceived the dismantling of the war council leaves Hamas facing a potential leadership vacuum at a critical military capabilities have been severely degraded, its political leadership - who operated out of Qatar until November 2024, after which their whereabouts became unclear - is under intense pressure, and its traditional mechanisms of control within Gaza have been deeply disrupted. The absence of a centralised strategic command may lead to fragmentation within Hamas, or the rise of new, perhaps more radical it may open a pathway for recalibration - if not by Hamas, then by other Palestinian actors seeking to fill the void left fall of Hamas's War Council marks the end of a shadowy but powerful inner circle that shaped one of the most consequential decisions in the movement's their legacy will be seen by Palestinians as one of bold resistance or catastrophic miscalculation, one thing is certain: with their departure, a defining era in the leadership of Hamas has come to a close.
BreakingNews.ie
11 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Family pleads for the release of a Nepali student abducted by Hamas
The family of a Nepali man taken captive by the Palestinian militant group Hamas appealed to his captors for his release, stressing that he has no involvement in the conflict in Gaza. Bipin Joshi, now 25, was among 17 Nepali students studying agriculture in southern Israel during the October 7 2023 Hamas attack that ignited the war in Gaza. Advertisement Pushpa Joshi travels eight hours each way to Kathmandu to lobby officials to secure her brother's release (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha) Mr Joshi had worked hard in a government competition to earn a spot to study in Israel, his 17-year-old sister, Pushpa Joshi, said from Kathmandu. He arrived in southern Israel just three weeks before the attack. It was his first time out of Nepal. 'Bipin Joshi is an innocent agriculture student,' Pushpa said. 'He is a student who has a long life ahead of him, who is just 25 years old now.' Militants killed 10 of the Nepali students in the attack and injured six others. Advertisement Mr Joshi saved multiple lives by tossing a live grenade out of the bomb shelter where they were hiding, his sister said, before he was abducted and taken to Gaza. His family has not had a sign of life from him since Israel obtained security footage from a hospital in Gaza showing Mr Joshi, so they know he was taken alive to Gaza, but have no information about him since then. Pushpa, who was 15 when her brother was kidnapped, lives with their parents in a town in western Nepal. She travels eight hours each way on buses to Kathmandu regularly to lobby officials to secure her brother's release. Advertisement She has met the country's prime minister and president several times. Nepal's government says it has repeatedly sought help from Qatari and Egyptian officials to get Mr Joshi freed. 'He is alive and we believe from the bottom of our hearts that he for sure is going to come back all safe and sound,' Pushpa said. 'We have big hopes that he will be back.' Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages in the October 7 attack. Advertisement They are still holding 53 hostages, around 20 of them believed to be alive. The majority of the others were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages from Gaza and recovered dozens of bodies, including five over the past week. In the ensuing conflict, more than 55,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Pushpa described her brother as her best friend (Niranjan Shrestha/AP) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed 'doubts' about whether several hostages are still alive. Advertisement None of the previously released hostages have seen Mr Joshi recently during their captivity. His parents are constantly monitoring news about the Gaza conflict, and get their hopes up whenever they see signs of a hostage release. 'News is always on, all day from morning to night, at our house,' Pushpa said. They are also in contact with families of other Nepalis who were killed or injured in the attack, though Mr Joshi is the only Nepali hostage. Pushpa said her brother is her best friend, and that they would often learn, sing and dance together while their parents were at work. 'In rainy season like now, we used to get wet in the rain and dance,' she said. He studied diligently to earn the scholarship to study agriculture in Israel, she said. The exchange program at Kibbutz Alumim was close to the Gaza border in a major agricultural area. Nepali citizens go to Israel for both education and employment, to learn the country's advanced agricultural techniques. Agriculture is the backbone of Nepal's economy, and the primary source of income for more than 60% of the population.
