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News Desk: The Israeli military on Monday said that the Palestine-based Hamas militant group is holding at least 199 hostages in Gaza. Earlier, they had estimated the number to be around 120.
Media reports suggested that the US, Israel and Egypt had agreed on a truce to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza through Rafah border. However, this was denied by the office of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The war between Israel and the Hamas militants entered its 10th day on Monday and is expected to escalate further. The Israeli Army has vowed to “demolish Hamas” as the troops prepared to move into the Gaza Strip in pursuit of Hamas militants whose deadly rampage through Israeli border towns on October 7 shocked the world. The war has claimed over 3,900 lives since it began last Saturday. These include around 1,300 Israelis and 2,670 Palestinians.
Israel had urged Palestinians to evacuate to the southern area of the Gaza City enclave ahead of an expected Israel ground offensive against the terror attacks, which hundreds of thousands have done after leaving Gaza City, home to about half the region’s more than 2 million people.
