Israel-Hamas War News Live Updates: Hamas said it wanted to release the two additional people on Friday, the same day it released American nationals Judith Tai Ranaan and her daughter Natalie.
Israel Hamas War Conflict News Live Updates (October 22): Israel on Saturday described Palestinian militant group Hamas’ claim that the country rejected the release of two more hostages on humanitarian grounds as “propaganda”. Abu Ubaida, Hamas armed wing’s spokesman, said that Qatar was informed that the group intended to release the two additional people on Friday, the same day it released American nationals Judith Tai Ranaan and her daughter Natalie. Ubaida added later that Hamas was ready to free the two people on Sunday “using the same procedures”. In a brief statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said: “We will not refer to false propaganda by Hamas… We will continue to act in every way to return all the kidnapped and missing people home.”
In other news, Israeli aircraft struck a compound beneath the al-Ansar Mosque in the occupied West Bank early on Sunday, news agency Reuters reported. Israeli military claimed that the compound beneath the mosque in Jenin refugee camp belonged to operatives from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad who were responsible for attacks in recent months. Palestinian medics said at least one person was killed in the strike.
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Meanwhile, the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt opened on Saturday to let in humanitarian aid for the city for the first time since Israel laid it under siege. The reopening of the border followed over a week of intensive diplomatic efforts involving various mediators, including visits to the region by US President Joe Biden and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Additionally, the Palestinian side of the crossing had been temporarily closed due to Israeli airstrikes. While more than 200 trucks loaded with approximately 3,000 tons of aid had been waiting near the crossing for several days, Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera news, which has close ties to security agencies, reported that only 20 trucks entered Gaza on Saturday.
Live Blog
Israel-Hamas War Live: Hamas claims Israel rejected release of two more hostages, Netanyahu’s office calls it ‘propaganda’; Israel strikes mosque in West Bank, Palestinian medics say one person killed. Follow this space for all the latest updates from the war.
The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), positioned as a modern-day Spice Route and as a weighty ideological alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, was a challenging project to start off with, given the inherent logistical complexities of the multi-modal project and the prospect of navigating through the complex geopolitics of the West Asian region – a vital middle link. But the eruption of fighting in Israel and the renewed tensions it has stoked in the region makes any progress on the project, which to leverage cross-country railway lines and shipping corridors to physically link up a vast stretch of the Eurasian subcontinent, an even more uphill task than when the initial announcement was made just over a month ago, officials in multiple government ministries indicated. When PM Modi had made the announcement flanked by US President Joe Biden and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman during the annual Group of 20 leaders summit in New Delhi last month, there was a tacit acknowledgement of the logistical complexities, including the prospect of multi-modal shipment transfers and the possibility of consignments being subjected to multiple national customs checks and clearance. But the geopolitical challenge of wading through the complex geopolitics of the West Asia region was always the bigger, unsaid concern.
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First published on: 22-10-2023 at 07:46 IST
