The bodies of six hostages held by Hamas have been recovered in an underground tunnel in Gaza, Israel’s military said Sunday. The captives, including an Israeli American, were among the more than 200 people taken by the militants into Gaza following their deadly cross-border rampage on October 7.

Five of them were taken from an Israeli music festival where hundreds were killed and dozens more were kidnapped by Hamas fighters. The sixth was captured from a nearby farming community, according to the Hostages Families Forum, which has coordinated efforts to highlight the plight of the captives and their families, and push for their release.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said their bodies were found in a Hamas-run tunnel under the city of Rafah, and that they were “brutally” murdered “a short while” before troops were able to reach them.

The location was approximately one kilometer (0.6 miles) from the tunnel where another hostage was rescued alive days earlier, an IDF spokesperson added.

Here’s what we know about the hostages:

Hersh Goldberg-Polin

The 23-year-old Israeli American became one of the most recognizable faces of the enduring hostage crisis, after he was taken at gunpoint by Hamas militants from the Nova music festival. Banners and murals demanding his return were often displayed in Jerusalem and around the world.

When Hamas gunmen poured into southern Israel on October 7, Goldberg-Polin and his friends were forced to hide inside a small bomb shelter. As the militants began to lob grenades into the bunker, Goldberg-Polin rushed to throw them out, before his arm was blown off from the elbow down, according to a firsthand account from his friend.

Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, have been among the most vocal of the hostage families pushing Netanyahu to seek a deal securing their relatives’ return. They have also regularly met top US officials in Washington to press the case of the hostages and gave an emotional address at this month’s Democratic National Convention.

Born in Oakland, California, Goldberg-Polin immigrated to Israel with his family at age 7.

An elder brother to two sisters, he was a “happy go lucky, laid back, good humored, respectful and curious person” who loved soccer and music, according to his family. He had been obsessed with geography and travel since he was a little boy, his mother said.

Alexander Lobanov

The 32-year-old father of two, from the coastal city of Ashkelon in southern Israel, was also kidnapped from the Nova music festival, where he was working as a bar manager.

Testimonies indicate that Lobanov helped evacuate people at the festival and ran with five others into the Be’eri forest, where he was later captured by Hamas gunmen.

Lobanov is survived by his wife and two children, a two-year-old and a five-month-old. His younger child was born while he was in captivity.

Carmel Gat

The 40-year-old from Tel Aviv was staying at her parents’ home in the border kibbutz of Be’eri in southern Israel when Hamas fighters broke in at around 10 a.m. on October 7 and forcibly took her away.

Be’eri was one of the hardest hit communities in the October 7 attacks with Hamas killing 101 of its residents, including children. Thirty people were abducted from the kibbutz that day.

After 50 days without a sign of life, Gat’s family received testimony from returned hostages, who described her as their guardian angel. To help them endure captivity, she taught them meditation and yoga.

The occupational therapist was full of compassion and love, and always finding ways to support and help others, according to the Hostages Families Forum. She loved solo travel, meeting new people, and live rock music. She was particularly fond of English rock band Radiohead.

Almog Sarusi

The 27-year-old was at the Nova music festival with his girlfriend of five years. When the attack happened, the pair tried to escape by car along with friends, but his girlfriend was shot and severely injured. Sarusi stayed by her side in a desperate attempt to save her. She died, and he was subsequently captured and taken to Gaza, according to the Hostages Families Forum.

Sarusi was remembered as a positive person who loved traveling around Israel in his white SUV with his guitar, according to the forum.

Eden Yerushalmi

The 24-year-old from Tel Aviv was working as a bartender at the Nova music festival on October 7. When sirens sounded, she sent a video of rocket fire to her family group chat, saying she was leaving the party, according to the Hostages Families Forum.

As Hamas fighters went about their rampage Yerushalmi called the police, describing the situation and pleading: “Find me, ok?”

For four hours, she spoke with her two sisters, May and Shani, who heard everything she went through as she tried to escape. Her last words were, “Shani, they’ve caught me.”

Those who knew Yerushalmi described her as a vibrant young woman with many friends and hobbies. She loved spending summer days at the beach playing paddleball, attending parties, and was studying to become a pilates instructor, according to the Hostages Families Forum.

Ori Danino

The eldest of five siblings, the 25-year-old planned to study electrical engineering. The Jerusalem native was kidnapped from the Nova music festival while driving back to help others escape, according to the Hostages Families Forum. He was the son of Einav and Elchanan, and partner to Liel.

“Ori was known for his ambition, love for people, and was beloved by all,” the forum said. “He loved nature and was very handy.”

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the most recognizable faces of the heart-wrenching hostage crisis that sparked the Israel-Hamas war, has died, bringing a crushing end to a tireless and high-profile international campaign by his parents to secure his release.

The 23-year-old Israeli American’s ordeal had come to symbolize the pain and agony of the more than 100 hostages still held in Gaza, with banners and murals demanding their return often displayed in Jerusalem and around the world.

His death, announced Sunday in a family statement, has sparked fresh heartbreak and horror for the hostage families who fear that time is running out for their loved ones seized by Hamas as pressure grows on the Israeli government to secure a ceasefire agreement.

Goldberg-Polin, who was among the hundreds of young people attending the Nova music festival in southern Israel on October 7, was forced to hide in a bomb shelter with his friends as Hamas militants launched a surprise attack, killing more than 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

As Hamas militants began to lob grenades into the bunker, Goldberg-Polin rushed to throw them out, before his arm was blown off from the elbow down, according to a firsthand account from his friend. When the gunfire settled, Goldberg-Polin was forcibly taken by Hamas gunmen. That was the last time his friend saw him.

The first sign of life from Goldberg-Polin came in April, six months after his capture.

He was shown in a hostage video released by Hamas, with part of his left arm missing and hair cropped short. Speaking in Hebrew, he said he had been “here for almost 200 days” and called on his parents to stay strong for him.

More than four months later, the young Israeli American was confirmed dead, according to a statement from his family released by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh. The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time,” the family said in the statement.

The Israeli military said his body was found “brutally murdered” alongside five other hostages in Hamas-run tunnels under the city of Rafah and that they were killed “a short while” before troops were able to reach them.

Heartbreak of hostage families

The fate of Goldberg-Polin had tied the fate of the hostages and US policy over the Israel-Gaza war more inextricably together. His parents have been among the most vocal of the hostage families pushing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek a deal securing their relatives’ return. They’ve also regularly met top US officials in Washington to press the case of the hostages.

Days before his confirmed death, Goldberg-Polin’s parents made an emotional plea for their son’s return at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

“This is a political convention. But needing our only son and all of the cherished hostages home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue,” said Goldberg-Polin’s father Jon Polin.

Since their son’s abduction, “we live on another planet,” his mother Rachel Goldberg-Polin said. “Anyone who is a parent or has had a parent can try to imagine the anguish and misery that Jon and I and all the hostage families are enduring.”

Their speech was greeted with an extended ovation and chants of “bring him home” by the thousands of Democratic delegates at the convention, echoing a phrase that has become a mantra in Israel for the families of those taken hostage.

The couple wore pieces of tape with the number 320 written on them, marking the number of days their son had been held hostage.

‘Obsessed’ with geography

Born in Oakland, California, Goldberg-Polin immigrated to Israel with his family at age 7.

An elder brother to two sisters, he was a “happy go lucky, laid back, good humored, respectful and curious person” who loved soccer and music, according to his mother.

“He has been obsessed with geography and travel since he was a little boy,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin said during her DNC speech. “His bedroom overflows with atlases, globes, maps and National Geographic magazines.”

On October 7, he went to the Nova music festival in a rural area near the Gaza-Israel border with his best friend Honor to celebrate his 23rd birthday, according to his mother.

“As rockets began to fall Hersh, Honor and 27 other young festival goers took refuge in a 5-feet-by-8-feet bomb shelter. Terrorists began to throw grenades into the shelter, Honor stood in the doorway and repelled seven of those grenades before the eighth one killed him,” Rachel Goldberg-Polin said.

A young woman who was in the same shelter at the time had previously told his parents that Goldberg-Polin, who was left-handed, helped to throw grenades out of the bunker before getting his left arm blown off from the elbow down. He was later taken on a truck by gunmen and driven off, eyewitnesses told his parents.

Footage taken on the day of that attack showed Goldberg-Polin being marched out of the shelter – with his hand blown off and bone protruding from his wrist – and thrown along with four others into the back of a truck.

Days earlier, an Israeli soldier at the site of the Nova festival had shown Cooper the video. During the interview, Cooper realized the young man in the video was his interviewees’ son.

Not wanting to spring the news on them on live TV, Cooper contacted the couple after the interview and asked if they wanted to see the video. They later confirmed the man in the video was their son and asked that the video be shared more widely.

The latest hostage deaths up the stakes for the Biden administration to push US ally Israel to find a way out of a devastating war in Gaza that has inflamed global public opinion and repeatedly threatened to spiral into an all-out regional conflict.

It also puts pressure on Netanyahu to agree a deal as fears grow that more captives will die and the ongoing destruction in Gaza could spark a wider regional war.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the health ministry in the enclave.

“There is a surplus of agony on all sides of the tragic conflict in the Middle East in a competition of pain. There are no winners,” Jonathan Polin said at the DNC last month.

“In an inflamed Middle East we know the one thing that can most immediately release pressure and bring calm to the entire region. A deal that brings this diverse group of 109 hostages home and ends the suffering of the innocent civilians in Gaza. The time is now.”

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, has died, his family said Sunday, dealing fresh heartbreak to the families of captives who fear time is running out for their loved ones seized by the militants more than 10 months ago.

The announcement came hours after the Israeli military said it had found the bodies of six hostages held in Gaza.

The 23-year-old’s parents have been among the most vocal of the hostage families pushing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to seek a deal securing their relatives’ return, and they gave an emotional address at this month’s Democratic National Convention.

His ordeal, after he was taken at gunpoint by Hamas militants at the Nova music festival on October 7, resulted in him becoming one of the faces of the devastating hostage crisis that has challenged Netanyahu’s leadership and triggered widespread destruction in Gaza.

“With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh. The family thanks you all for your love and support and asks for privacy at this time,” the family said in a statement.

US President Joe Biden said the six bodies were recovered from a tunnel under the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.

“I am devastated and outraged,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House that also paid tribute to Goldberg-Polin’s parents.

“They have been courageous, wise, and steadfast, even as they have endured the unimaginable,” Biden said. “They have been relentless and irrepressible champions of their son and of all the hostages held in unconscionable conditions.”

Goldberg-Polin and friends hid inside a small bomb shelter when Hamas gunmen began their kidnap and murder rampage. As militants began to lob grenades into the bunker, he rushed to throw them out, before his arm was blown off from the elbow down, according to a firsthand account from his friend.

News of more hostage deaths piles pressure Netanyahu as anger inside Israel swells over the failure to strike a ceasefire deal, and as stark disagreements between the prime minister and his military leaders increasingly spill out into the open.

It also ups the stakes for Biden to push US ally Israel to find a way out of a devastating war in Gaza that has inflamed global public opinion and repeatedly threatened to spiral into an all-out regional conflict.

“Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages,” Biden said in his statement on Goldberg-Polin’s death.

Israel launched its war against Hamas in Gaza after the militant group’s cross-border October 7 attacks, in which more than 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the health ministry in the enclave.

Anger has been growing inside Israel, led by many hostage families, who believe Netanyahu and key far-right cabinet colleagues have been stalling on achieving a ceasefire resolution with Hamas that might bring those captured and killed home.

Netanyahu has been adamant that a deal can only be signed when Israel’s safety is assured.

But domestic pressure is building.

A group representing the hostage families called for the public to mobilize after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) earlier reported finding “a number of bodies” in Gaza. The demands by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum came as thousands rallied across Israel on Saturday demanding a ceasefire-for-hostages deal.

“Netanyahu abandoned the hostages! This is now a fact,” a statement issued by the families’ forum read.

“Starting tomorrow the country will tremble. We call on the public to prepare. We will stop the country.”

The forum said it will release more details about what it is calling for on Sunday.

‘Anguish and misery’

The death of Goldberg-Polin in particular will reverberate not just in Israel but in US political circles. His parents Rachel and Jonathan have regularly met top US officials in Washington to press the case of the hostages and their emotional address to top Democrats at the convention in Chicago inextricably tied the hostages’ fate to US policy over the war in Gaza.

At her convention speech, she described life since October 7 like living on “another planet.”

“Anyone who is a parent or has had a parent can try to imagine the anguish and misery that John and I and all the hostage families are enduring,” she told delegates.

Biden said Saturday evening that his staff has been in touch with Israeli officials about the unfolding situation but noted that the bodies had not yet been identified. Biden also called for an end to the war, expressing optimism that an agreement could be reached on a ceasefire-for-hostages deal and adding that parties involved in the negotiation have said they “agree on the principles.”

“It’s time this war ended,” Biden added. “I think we’re on the verge of having an agreement. It’s time to end it. It’s time to finish it.”

The US, Qatar and Egypt, who have acted as mediators, this month renewed a push to reach a hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

The mediators have proposed a three-phase approach: a first phase involving a six-week ceasefire; a second phase that would release all hostages and a withdrawal of all IDF presence from Gaza; and a third reconstruction phase.

However, the current proposal, if agreed upon, essentially allows Israel and Hamas to abandon discussions after the first phase, and Israel has made it clear that a break in the fighting may be just that and it is not ready to agree to a permanent ceasefire.

More than 100 hostages taken from Israel were freed under a temporary truce last year and eight have been rescued alive – including Farhan Al-Qadi, who was recovered from a Hamas tunnel this week. However, more than 100 are thought to remain in Gaza.

Of that number, 103 hostages are from the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Of those, 33 are presumed dead, according to the forum, in figures given before Sunday’s announcement.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Malaysian authorities have stopped a nine-day effort to find and rescue a woman who fell into a sinkhole in Kuala Lumpur, officials said Saturday.

The operation will now shift into a search and recovery phase, local media reported, citing Zaliha Mustafa, a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in the Federal Territories.

Mustafa said several factors went into the decision, including concerns over the safety and health of the rescue personnel, Singaporean newspaper the Straits Times reported.

Vijaya Lakshmi Gali, an Indian national, fell into the sinkhole on the morning of Aug. 23, according to the High Commission of India in Kuala Lumpur.

Surveillance footage shows the woman walking on a pavement along a busy road when the sinkhole suddenly opened beneath her. She plunged into the eight-meter gap while people around her scrambled for safety.

Malaysian authorities mounted an extensive, multi-agency rescue effort involving the Royal Malaysian Police, the Fire and Rescue Department and the Civil Defense Force, among others.

They tried a variety of tools and techniques to locate her, including excavations, flushing portions of the drain system, sending divers to search the city’s sewage line, using high-pressure water jets to remove obstacles, and mapping inaccessible areas with remote cameras and ground-penetrating radar, according to the High Commission of India in Kuala Lumpur.

Authorities found no trace of her apart from a pair of slippers, the Associated Press reported.

The Chinese and Philippine Coast Guards traded blame over the latest collisions involving their vessels in the disputed South China Sea on Saturday.

The Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) said a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) ship had “deliberately collided” with one of its vessels near the disputed Sabina Shoal, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

“At 12:06, the Philippine ship No. 9701 deliberately collided with the Chinese ship No. 5205, which was normally enforcing rights and law enforcement, in an unprofessional and dangerous manner, resulting in a collision. The responsibility lies entirely with the Philippines,” CCG spokesman Liu Dejun said on Saturday.

PCG spokesperson Jay Tarriela said the Chinese side had “deliberately rammed” a Philippines vessel.

“This afternoon, the Chinese Coast Guard vessel deliberately rammed and collided with the BRP Teresa Magbanua three times, despite no provocation from the Philippine Coast Guard,” he wrote in a post on X.

The dueling accounts come as Chinese and Philippine vessels have engaged in multiple collisions and face-offs over the past week near Sabina Shoal, also known as Xianbin Reef.

The disputed atoll lies just 86 miles from the Philippines’ west coast and 745 miles from China.

A spokesperson for the US State Department said it condemned China for “deliberately colliding three times” with the Philippine vessel.

“On multiple occasions throughout August 2024, (China) has aggressively disrupted lawful Philippine aerial and maritime operations in the South China Sea, including at Sabina Shoal,” said the spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Miller added that the US called on China to comply with international law and “desist from dangerous and destabilizing conduct.”

China claims almost all of the South China Sea as its sovereign territory despite an international ruling to the contrary.

The escalation in tensions comes just weeks after Beijing and Manila struck a temporary deal to lower tensions that had been rising all summer at another nearby reef, where China’s increasingly aggressive tactics had raised alarm across the region as well as in Washington, a mutual defense ally of the Philippines.

With reporting by Nectar Gan and Brad Lendon.

Israeli authorities say they have “located a number of bodies” during combat in the Gaza Strip.

“At this time, the troops are still operating in the area and are carrying out a process to extract and identify the bodies that will last several hours. We ask to refrain from spreading rumors,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement Saturday.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

A day of mourning has been declared in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Saturday, as rescuers and emergency teams wrap up their operations following a Russian bomb attack that killed at least six civilians, including a child in a playground.

At least 97 people were injured, including 24 children, when Moscow struck the city with five guided aerial bombs, according to Ukrainian authorities, in one of the most impactful Russian attacks on the region over the summer.

Among the dead was 14-year-old Sofia, who was in a playground when she was killed on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“These horrific, cowardly Russian strikes targeted ordinary homes and a city park. Russia will be held accountable for all its evil deeds,” Zelensky said, again pressing Western allies to step up their military support.

“We need decisions – decisions that our partners can make, decisions from those countries that have the power to ensure we have the capability to destroy Russian military aircraft at their bases, where eliminating these terrorists and their aircraft will be most effective,” he said on Friday.

Russian forces conducted the “massive bombardment” of the city using Su-34 fight jets that were deployed from the border Belgorod region, according to the head of the Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office, Oleksandr Filchakov.

The 500 kilogram (1,100 lb) guided aerial bombs were launched from Russian territory and are very difficult to intercept, according to Ukrainian officials.

“This is a bomb with a control module, which means that the enemy was specifically targeting residential infrastructure,” the head of the Kharkiv regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov, said Saturday.

Striking the airplanes that carry those bombs is the most effective way to prevent such attacks, Zelensky has argued, as he continues to urge the United States and Western partners to lift restrictions on using long-range weapons to hit military targets on Russian territory.

The guided aerial bombs hit civilian infrastructure in four districts of the city in the Friday afternoon attack, Filchakov said, adding that 82 apartment buildings, 11 private houses, three administrative buildings, two educational establishments, 47 shopping facilities, 57 cars, two warehouses, 10 garages and an enterprise facility were damaged.

Ukraine strikes Russia’s Belgorod

Meanwhile, Ukrainian attacks across the border into Russia continued on Saturday.

At least five people were killed and more than 50 injured across Russia’s Belgorod region over the last 24 hours, the regional governor said Saturday.

Most of the casualties occurred in the city of Belgorod, where three people were killed and 31 civilians, including three children, were injured. More than 20 people remained hospitalized on Saturday, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.

Civilian infrastructure across the region was damaged, he said.

Ukrainian attacks in Russia’s Kursk region also continued, Moscow said Saturday. Kyiv’s forces have made further advancements in their incursion into the border region, Ukraine’s army chief said Friday.

Kyiv’s troops have advanced up to 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) further in some areas over the past 24 hours, taking control of an additional 5 square kilometers of the territory, Ukraine’s top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said Friday.

In addition to the casualties in Kharkiv, Russian attacks on Ukrainian territory have killed at least three people and injured 16 over the past 24 hours, according to officials.

The Ukrainian Air Force said Saturday that Russian forces had attacked Ukraine overnight with an Iskander-M ballistic missile launched from Voronezh region, four S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles launched from occupied parts of the Donetsk region, and 52 Shahed drones launched from Kursk region.

A first group of babies received polio vaccinations in Gaza on Saturday ahead of the official start of a much-anticipated United Nations-led campaign on Sunday.

Babies in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, central Gaza, were among the first to receive the vital vaccines on Saturday, according to footage filmed by news agency Reuters.

The main UN agency in Gaza, UNRWA, plans to immunize over 640,000 children in the war-torn enclave, facilitated by a series of pauses in fighting agreed to by Israel.

During a press conference organized by the Ministry of Health in Gaza to officially launch the campaign, Deputy Health Minister Yousef Abu Al-Reesh said that if “the international community wants the campaign to succeed,” it should call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

The return of polio to Gaza is a measure of the destruction wrought by more than 10 months of Israeli bombardment. The UN’s campaign comes after the highly infectious virus was found in sewage samples in the strip in June. A baby has since become the first person in Gaza in 25 years to be diagnosed with polio.

Before the war, Gaza had near-universal polio vaccine coverage, but it has since dropped below 90%. Polio mostly affects children under 5 years old, and can cause irreversible paralysis and even death. It’s highly infectious and there is no cure. It can only be prevented by immunization, according to the World Health Organization.

The vaccination drive comes as aid agencies reported Israeli attacks on their convoys. One charity said an Israeli strike on a humanitarian vehicle in Gaza killed several employees of a transportation company. The Israeli military said it targeted “armed men” who had taken over the convoy.

A bitter dispute about the conditions for a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza erupted between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at a meeting of the Israeli security cabinet on Thursday night, according to multiple reports in Israeli media.

The Philadelphi corridor is currently controlled by the IDF. The deployment of Israeli troops along the corridor during the first phase of a ceasefire agreement has been a major point of contention between Israel and Hamas, with Hamas saying Israeli troops must withdraw from the border zone.

According to multiple accounts, Netanyahu produced maps showing how the IDF should remain in the corridor during the first phase of the deal – in which hostages are also meant to be released – so as to prevent Hamas from resuming arms smuggling through tunnels under the corridor.

“I would like to bring the decision on the IDF troops remaining in the Philadelphi Corridor for the Cabinet’s approval,” Netanyahu is reported to have said.

Gallant interjected, according to the accounts of the meeting, saying: “The significance of this is that Hamas won’t agree to it, so there won’t be an agreement and there won’t be any hostages released.”

He also alleged that Netanyahu had drawn up different maps to those preferred by Israeli negotiators in Cairo, adding: “You imposed these maps on them.”

Netanyahu angrily rejected the claim, but Gallant persisted. “Of course you forced (it). You’re running the negotiations on your own. Since you disbanded the War Cabinet, we hear everything after the fact.”

Gallant appeared to receive support from the Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi, who was at the meeting. He is reported to have said that the IDF could withdraw from the corridor and return “at the end of six weeks of ceasefire. There are enough constraints for negotiations, there’s no need to add another one.”

According to published accounts, Gallant said at one point that “the prime minister can indeed make all the decisions, and he can also decide to kill all the hostages,” provoking rebukes from other ministers. He added that “30 lives are at stake.”

Gallant added that “in the end Sinwar will dictate to you and you’ll retract,” a reference to the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who is thought to be in hiding in Gaza. Netanyahu in response reportedly insisted that no one dictated to him, saying that “only determined negotiation will make him (Sinwar) fold.”

The cabinet proceeded to vote on the maps that Netanyahu presented, approving them by eight to one, the only dissenter being Gallant. The right-wing National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir abstained from the vote. Israeli media cited sources close to him as saying he opposed any gradual decrease in the number of soldiers in the corridor.

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum responded to the media reports of the meeting with a statement that they “should cause every Israeli citizen to lose sleep.”

West Bank incidents

Reports of the dispute between top Israeli officials emerged as violence continues to rock the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Two security incidents happened overnight on Friday, in which two men were shot dead and a vehicle exploded, according to the IDF.

The IDF said that a vehicle caught fire and exploded late Friday at a gas station at the Gush Etzion intersection. “Forces that arrived at the point shot and killed the terrorist who got out of the vehicle and tried to attack them.”

The IDF said that nearby, “terrorists tried to run over a security guard at the entrance to the settlement of Karmei Tzur,” a settlement north of the city of Hebron. One of them was killed.

The IDF said there had been several casualties in the two incidents.

The Israeli emergency services (MDA) said that shortly before midnight it received a report of two gunshot victims near the gas station. The victims were moderately injured with gunshot wounds.

The MDA said that a vehicle apparently breached the entrance to the Karmei Tzur community. The head of security at the settlement received minor injuries when pursuing the vehicle, according to the IDF, and “during the confrontation, an explosive device in the terrorist’s car detonated.”

The Palestine Islamic Jihad movement said its fighters were responsible for the attacks and claimed without offering evidence that a number of Israeli soldiers had been killed.

The IDF said Saturday that security forces continue searches for additional suspects near Karmei Tzur community.

“The initial examination of the vehicle explosion at the Gush Etzion gas station indicated that the incident was an attempted car bombing by a terrorist,” it said.

Several soldiers had received light or moderate injuries, it said.

The incidents come amid a substantial Israeli operation in the West Bank over the past few days which the IDF has said is targeting militants preparing attacks on Israel.

In the north of the West Bank, Israel’s military is continuing its offensive in Jenin city and refugee camp for a fourth consecutive day, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported Saturday, citing local sources.

It said eyewitnesses claimed Israeli military reinforcements had been deployed to the Jenin refugee camp and raided several homes.

“Israeli military bulldozers have been destroying streets and infrastructure in both the city and the refugee camp, causing significant damage to electricity and water networks,” WAFA reported.

A Russian helicopter carrying 22 people has gone missing near a volcano in the Kamchatka peninsula in the country’s Far East, according to the local governor.

The Mi-8T helicopter had 19 passengers and three crew members on board before it disappeared on Saturday, Kamchatka Krai governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video statement. It had set off from a site near the region’s Vachkazhets volcano and was travelling to the village of Nikolaevka.

Low visibility, drizzle, and fog were observed in the Kamchatka region where the helicopter was flying, Russian state media TASS reported. The crew did not report any malfunctions to the aircraft, operational services said.

After the helicopter went missing, a search helicopter flew over the area that it was last in, Solodov said. A ground rescue team was also deployed to look for the aircraft, searching along the Bystraya River valley over which the helicopter would have flown.

On Saturday evening local time, Solodov said that the search party was continuing to look for the helicopter and its passengers in the dark and in poor weather conditions.

Kamchatka’s investigative department for transport is conducting an investigation into possible violations of rules related to traffic safety and air transport operation, it said in a Telegram post.

This is a developing story and will be updated.