Israel-Hamas War Enters Day 18: Two hostages freed, More than 400 killed in Gaza in last 24 hours
Hamas released two more Israeli hostages on Monday, led the count to four. However, as the Israel – Palestine war entered day 18, Israel continues its brutal strikes towards the Gaza Strip and at least 400 people were killed, in the last 24 hours. It was one of the deadliest nights of bombings and as said by the Palestinian officials, nearly half of the deaths were children.
World media’s reported ‘the hardest nights so far’ as 400 killed in a day-span, and another 70 were killed overnight on Sunday in bombardments of a Jabalia refugee camp and streets near to two hospitals in Gaza. Emergency rescue operations are still underway, and the attacked includes mostly women and children.
Hamas released two more women hostages in Gaza on Monday. The hostages were 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz and 79-year-old Nurit Cooper, both Israeli nationals from the Nir Oz kibbutz. Hamas said that the hostages were released for humanitarian reasons and considering their poor health conditions. As of now, a total of 4 hostages are freed by the Islamic Resistance Movement. Around 50 people, as reported, were kidnapped and held captive from a desert music festival by the Palestinian outfit on the initial day of the war – October 7 – when Hamas led an unprecedented attack on Israel.
The released hostages are now under observation in a Tel Aviv hospital, and were reunited with their families. The husbands of the women are said still captive in Gaza. The first two hostages released were Judith Raanan, 59, and Natalie Raanan, 17, a mother and daughter from Illinois. As Al Jazeera reports, the release of Hamas hostages points to “the Palestinian armed group’s willingness to negotiate” to reduce the catastrophic impacts of the war, said a Middle East analyst. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) also lost 35 of their volunteers, killed in the war. Meanwhile nearly 600,000 internally displaced people are sheltering in 150 UNRWA facilities, including 3,000 pregnant women.
We are lost for words.
We pay tribute to our 35 colleagues who have been killed in📍#Gaza since 7 October.
We grieve and we remember.
These are not just numbers. These are our friends and colleagues.
Many were teachers in our schools. @UNRWA mourns this huge loss. pic.twitter.com/rDHrEMWv6y
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 23, 2023
Israel expressed it’s gratitude towards Egypt for the humanitarian assistance and, Red Cross for its “important role in the release”. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Israel’s Eli Cohen that Beijing is “deeply saddened” by the large number of civilian deaths in the escalating war. China also acknowledged Israel’s right to self-defence, but demanded that every country should abide the international humanitarian law and are supposed to protect the civilians.
Israel military and forces operates several raids in cities and towns in the occupied West Bank and arrested many Palestinians. The US President Joe Biden held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called for the continuous flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Mr Biden took to his X (formerly Twitter) handle and said that “Israelis and Palestinians equally deserve to live in safety, dignity, and peace”. The Guardian reports that, the US and Qatar were trying to broker a deal to release hostages of foreign or dual nationality, held by Hamas.
Today, I spoke with @IsraeliPM about developments in Israel and Gaza.
The first two convoys of humanitarian assistance arrived in Gaza yesterday, and we affirmed that there will now be a continued flow of this critical aid to Palestinians in need.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 22, 2023
