Israel says a soldier believed to have been taken hostage is now presumed dead

The Israeli military said Monday that an Israeli-American soldier believed to have been captured alive in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, was killed that day and his body taken to the Gaza Strip.

Hamas still holds around 100 hostages in the Gaza Strip, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. The Biden administration says it is again pushing for a ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages after nearly a year of repeated stalling in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

Diplomats see a possible opening after last week’s ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, which began rocket attacks and firefights with Israel the day after the October 2023 attack.

The fragile ceasefire has held despite repeated Israeli attacks that have angered Lebanese officials but have yet to trigger a response from Hezbollah. Israel says it acted to thwart possible attacks.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 people hostage. More than 100 hostages were released during a week-long ceasefire in November 2023.

At least 44,429 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing retaliatory offensive, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry did not say how many of the dead were combatants. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants without providing evidence.

The war has destroyed large parts of the coastal enclave and displaced 90% of the 2.3 million residents, often several times.

Here’s the latest:

A few days after the fragile ceasefire, Israeli drone attacks were reported in Lebanon

BEIRUT – Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Monday that one person was killed in an Israeli drone strike that hit a motorcycle, while the Lebanese army said a soldier was injured in an Israeli attack on a military bulldozer at a military base.

The Israeli military said it carried out a series of attacks in Lebanon on Sunday and Monday, including one in the same area where the soldier was said to have been wounded. It said several military vehicles were hit in Lebanon’s Bekaa province and there were also attacks on Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon.

The incidents highlighted the fragility of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, reached after nearly 14 months of cross-border fighting.

Since the ceasefire came into force on Wednesday, Israel has struck several times in response to alleged Hezbollah violations of the ceasefire. Lebanon has accused Israel of violating the agreement, but Hezbollah has not yet resumed rocket fire.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Monday rejected accusations that Israel was violating the weak ceasefire agreement, saying it was responding to Hezbollah violations.

In a post on X, Saar said he made this point in a phone call with his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot. France, along with the United States, helped broker the deal and is part of an international monitoring committee designed to ensure the sides honor their commitments.

Israel says it reserves the right to respond to perceived ceasefire violations under the deal.

An Israeli-American soldier believed to have been taken hostage is now presumed dead

TEL AVIV, Israel – The Israeli military said Monday that an Israeli-American soldier believed to have been taken hostage alive on Oct. 7, 2023, is now believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack and his body returned to Gaza was brought.

Neutra, 21, was from New York, enlisted in the Israeli military and was captured when Hamas attacked southern Israel. Neutra’s parents, Ronen and Orna, led a public campaign for their son’s freedom during his lifetime. They spoke at protests across the U.S. and Israel, spoke at the Republican National Convention this year and maintained ties with the Biden administration in its fight for their son’s release.

In a statement announcing the death, the military did not say how it reached the conclusion about Neutra’s fate. He was one of seven American Israelis still held in Gaza, four of whom are now believed to be dead. Hamas released a video over the weekend of one, Edan Alexander, showing he was still alive.

In late summer, Hamas killed Hersh Goldberg-Polin, another prominent Israeli-American hostage, along with five other prisoners whose bodies the Israeli military had recovered.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 250 hostage. About 100 prisoners are still being held in the Gaza Strip, about two-thirds of whom are believed to be still alive.

Iran-backed Iraqi militias are supporting the Syrian government’s counteroffensive against insurgents

Iraqi militias backed by Iran deployed to Syria on Monday to support the government’s counteroffensive against a surprise advance by insurgents that seized the largest city of Aleppo, a militia official and a war monitor said.

Insurgents led by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a two-pronged attack on Aleppo and the Idlib countryside last week before advancing toward neighboring Hama province. Government troops built a fortified defensive line in northern Hama to slow the insurgent momentum, while jets bombed rebel-held lines on Sunday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus on Sunday and announced Tehran’s full support for his government. He later came to Ankara, Turkey, one of the rebels’ main supporters, for talks.

Iran has been a key political and military backer of Assad, sending military advisers and armed forces after protests against Assad’s rule turned into all-out war in 2011.

Tehran-backed Iraqi militias already in Syria have been mobilized and additional forces have crossed the border to support them, said the Iraqi militia official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media speak.

About 200 Iraqi militiamen entered Syria on pickup trucks via the strategic Bou Kamal overnight, according to Britain-based opposition war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. They were expected to be deployed in Aleppo to support the Syrian army’s resistance against the insurgents, the observer said.

US Navy destroys Houthi missiles and drones targeting American ships in Gulf of Aden

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. Navy destroyers have shot down seven missiles and drones fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels at warships and three American merchant ships they were escorting through the Gulf of Aden. No damage or injuries were reported.

U.S. Central Command said late Sunday that the destroyers USS Stockdale and USS O’Kane shot down and destroyed three anti-ship missiles, three drones and an anti-ship cruise missile. The merchant ships were not identified.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying they attacked the U.S. destroyers and “three American Army supply ships in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden.”

Houthi attacks have for months targeted shipping through a waterway that carries $1 trillion worth of goods annually because of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon. A ceasefire was announced in Lebanon last week.

The USS Stockdale was involved in a similar attack on November 12th.

___

Read more of AP’s coverage of the Middle East wars: https://apnews.com/hub/mideast-wars