Like his father Chumporn and dozens of other able-bodied men from their village in northeast Thailand, Manee Jirachart moved to Israel in search of work, dreaming of a better life.

Jobs were hard to come by within his rural community so when Manee found a cleaning position at a government office in southern Israel near the Gaza it seemed like a real opportunity.

He’d been working that job for nearly five years when he was abducted and taken hostage last weekend by Hamas militants involved in last weekend’s murder and kidnapping rampage within Israel.

The 29-year-old was just one of the scores of foreigners who became caught up in the attack that has devastated families around the world.

Dozens came from countries like the United States, Canada, the UK and France, with many holding dual Israeli citizenship and living in the kibbutzim targeted by Hamas gunmen or had been partying at the music festival where so many were killed.

But among many of the foreigners killed and captured by Hamas were also migrant workers from Asia, without familial links to either Israel or the Palestinian Territories, who hail from mostly poor, rural families and work in the country’s agricultural, construction and healthcare sectors.

Two Filipinos were also killed, according to the Philippines government.

But it is Thailand, which for decades has made up one of the biggest sources of migrant labor in Israel, that has suffered one of the highest tolls of any nation beyond Israel itself.

So far at least 21 Thai nationals have been killed as of Thursday, according to Thai authorities, with at least 14 others believed to have been captured by Hamas, their current whereabouts unknown, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin confirmed.

“Thailand has dominated the foreign migrant worker market in Israeli agriculture for the past decade,” said Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch.

“As many as 20,000 Thai workers were living on various remote farms and desert areas all over Israel, including areas close to the Gaza Strip so it isn’t surprising at all that many were right in harm’s way when Hamas fighters arrived.”

Each day this week the number has ticked up as more details become known, sparking fresh heartbreak for Thai families living thousands of miles from the Middle East’s latest conflict.

In an interview on Thai television, Labour Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said that around 5,000 Thais were employed in the “fighting zone.” Thousands of them are now hoping to return home to worried families, he added.

With Israel massing hundreds of thousands of troops on the Gaza border amid speculation there could be a ground invasion, many in Thailand fear they could yet become caught in the crossfire.

‘Begging for my son’s release’

Manee had talked to his father Chumporn on the phone just hours before the attack.

At the time, rockets were being fired toward Israel and this reminded the elder man of his own experiences living and working there. Aware of how quickly the dangers could escalate, the 50-year-old urged his son not to go outside, other than to find a bunker and hide if he needed to.

But hours later, he saw photos circulating on social media showing his son with his hands behind his back, sitting barefoot and cross-legged with other male hostages in front of an armed fighter pointing a rifle.

“I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was some kind of prank,” Chumporn said. “I called him several times but there was no answer – that was when I started to believe it was real.”

“We (Thais) are not involved in any of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. We are just there to work and earn money so we can have better lives,” he added.

“I am begging for my son’s release. I need to have him back, in good shape – like before he left Thailand.”

‘Palestinian workers weren’t welcome anymore’

Migrant workers from Asia make up more than half of Israel’s foreign work force, often taking on jobs as caregivers and within the construction industry.

Construction workers from China, where multiple firms maintain lucrative contracts with real estate developers in Israel, have found themselves caught up the violence this week.

One of the Filipinos killed, Paul Castelvi, had been working in Israel for five years and was a major breadwinner for his family, who expressed disbelief over his death at the hands of Hamas fighters.

“They were heartless and did not show any mercy.”

“You can ask anyone and they will tell you how kind and good my son was. He (would have) put up a fight to defend his employer and was shot there while they (Hamas fighters) took his employer and left Paul there to die with a gunshot wound,” he said, breaking down in tears.

“We are left devastated by his loss. He was just there to earn a living so why would they do that to my son?”

Assia Ladizhinskaya, spokesperson for Kav LaOved, a non-profit advocating for labor rights in the region, said part of the reason for this was that an earlier “massive wave of terror acts in Israel” meant “Palestinian workers weren’t welcome anymore.”

“During the 1990s, migrant workers (began to) replace Palestinians working in construction sites and agriculture fields as Palestinians workers became unwelcome and ‘unreliable’ due to regular lock downs and security issues,” Ladizhinskaya added.

Now many have found themselves caught up in those same security issues as a seemingly intractable conflict that has festered for decades without resolution flares up once more.

Human Rights Watch called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of all hostages and said that Thai workers, along with Nepalese and Filipinos, “were simply there to earn money to support their families.

“Such targeting of civilians is clearly a war crime and inexcusable in any circumstance,” said Robertson.

‘Survivors return home’

Meanwhile, the first flight of 41 Thai landed in Bangkok on Thursday – many recounting harrowing escapes as they reunited with tearful family members. Agency photos and videos showed two were being through the airport in wheelchairs.

Migrant workers migrating to dangerous conflict zones in search of work, with little protection and legal enforcement, has been a “big issue for decades,” said British researcher and migrant worker rights specialist Andy Hall.

Thailand itself is a major destination for migrant workers, mainly from poorer neighboring countries like Cambodia and Laos, as well as war-torn Myanmar.

“It only shows the desperation of the situation and stronger protocols are needed to protect people even before they migrate. There needs to be more risk assessments and detailed consideration (on the part of authorities).”

For now, many of those workers in Israel find themselves trapped in a region described by the UN as at a “tipping point” as tensions escalate and Israeli retaliation against Gaza accelerates.

Then there are those who, like Manee Jirachart, find themselves hostage in a foreign land they hoped would help them have a better life.

There are up to 150 hostages being held in Gaza, Israeli authorities believe. It is unclear how many are foreign nationals.

“Scores are being held captive, facing appalling threats to their lives,” said the UN’s top humanitarian official Martin Griffiths in a statement released this week.

“The violence must stop. Those held captive must be treated humanely. Hostages must be released without delay.”

Megidish was among over 200 hostages held by Hamas and was “actively rescued” with “boots on the ground” in a joint operation between the IDF and the Israeli Security Agency (ISA) which is also known as Shin Bet, Conricus said.

With Israel declaring a “new phase of war” as it started ground operations last Friday, Conricus said that “based on intelligence” the Israeli special forces went into northern Gaza knowing her whereabouts and rescued her.

“It indeed was a special operation that was targeted in specifically getting her out,” he said.

“They were in there for a job,” Conricus said, adding that he is happy with the outcome as Megidish is “well mentally and physically,” and has reunited with her family.

Megidish has also shared information about her captivity with Israeli intelligence officers that “can be used for the future,” Conricus added.

“We are definitely committed to get all of our 238 hostages currently held by Hamas in Gaza, all of them, to get them home,” he said, but stopped short on whether there are other similar operations planned based on intelligence about the remaining hostages’ whereabouts.

The hostage rescue comes amid growing international pressure on the Israeli government to secure the release of others held captive in Gaza for more than three weeks since Hamas’ rampage in Israel that killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians.

According to an estimate released by the Israeli Government Press Office last week, 135 hostages holding foreign passports from 25 countries are among those held in Gaza, including civilian men, women, children and the elderly as well as soldiers.

Hamas, the militant group the runs Gaza, has so far released just four hostages – two frail Israeli elderly women and an American mother and daughter – but negotiations to free a large number of captives are being complicated by Israel’s expansion of its ground operations into the besieged territory.

In response to those comments, Conricus said he “would argue that the reality on the ground dictates differently” based on the IDF’s rescue of Megidish.

Israel has said its intensifying ground offensive puts additional pressure on Hamas, and therefore may ultimately be helpful in the ongoing efforts to free hostages.

Conricus also alleged that Hamas is indulging in psychological warfare by using hostages as leverage.

“The way that Hamas has been behaving so far is that they’re trying to leverage their hostages … in order to alleviate their combat situation and the tactical situation on the ground,” he said.

He added that the Israeli military is making “considerable efforts, now in the ground warfare, to distinguish between combatants and non-combatant,” adding they are “moving slowly and deliberately.”

A family of nine, including two young children, were found shot dead in their home in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha in a slaying that has sparked outrage in Ukraine and triggered investigations by both nations.

Images from the Ukrainian Donetsk Region Prosecutor’s Office showed a horrific murder scene of multiple family members shot while in their beds, still tucked in each others arms, with blood spatters visible on the walls.

Ukraine alleges the family were slain by Russian occupying forces following an argument, while Russian authorities say two Russian soldiers have been arrested over the killings.

Volnovakha has been occupied by Russian forces since March 2022 following Moscow’s brutal invasion of its neighbor the month before.

The Ukrainian Donetsk Region Prosecutor’s Office said armed men in “military uniform demanded that the family living there vacate the house to accommodate a Russian army unit” earlier this month.

When the owner of the house refused, “the attackers threatened his family members with physical violence and left,” the office said Monday, based on preliminary information.

Days later, gunmen returned and “shot all nine members of the family, who were already asleep at that time,” the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said.

“A pre-trial investigation was initiated in criminal proceedings over violation of the laws and customs of war,” it said.

Russian investigators said two Russian servicemen were detained on Monday in connection with the murder of nine people in Volnovakha.

The suspects identified are “Russian military servicemen from the Far East serving under contract,” the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic said in a statement.

An investigation was launched in connection with the “murder of nine residents of the town of Volnovakha, including two children, whose bodies were found in the premises of a private residential house with gunshot wounds” on October 28, the committee said.

Russian investigators said the initial assessment for “the motive of the crime was a conflict on domestic grounds.”

“The suspects were detained and taken to the investigative department, investigative and procedural actions aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the incident, as well as consolidation of the evidence base are being carried out with them,” the committee said.

This month, Ukrainian forces have held out against a renewed Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, as Moscow’s forces pummel residential areas. Ukraine has also ordered mandatory evacuations of civilians, particularly children in areas close to front lines in the east and south.

A suspected gunman has barricaded himself in a post office in central Japan after two people were wounded and apparent gunshots heard in a hospital nearby, authorities said Tuesday.

The male suspect, believed to be between ages 50 and 70, fled the scene and barricaded himself in the Warabi post office, about 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) from the hospital, according to police.

Toda Mayor Fumihito Sugawara confirmed on social media that a man “suspected of carrying a gun” was barricaded in at the post office and warned residents not to go near the area.

Police were alerted to the incident at 1 p.m. local time and an hour later an eyewitness reported hearing what sounded like more gunfire, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Gun violence is extremely rare in Japan. The country has one of the world’s lowest rates of gun crime due to its strict laws on firearms ownership.

Last year, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead in Nara city while delivering a campaign speech, in an attack that shocked the nation.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The entire population of Gaza is “being dehumanized,” the chief of the main UN agency operating there told the UN Security Council Monday, as pressure intensified on the besieged strip with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruling out a ceasefire, saying “this is a time for war.”

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) told the Security Council that thousands of children killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza in the past three weeks “cannot be collateral damage.”

Major UN agencies are calling for a humanitarian ceasefire to allow deliveries of aid for more than 2 million civilians trapped with scarce supplies of food, water and medical equipment, and for the safe release of 240 hostages that Israel believes are being held by Hamas, the militant group that controls the enclave.

“An immediate humanitarian ceasefire has become a matter of life and death for millions,” Lazzarini said. The director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Lisa Doughten, told the Security Council that the “scale of the horror” being experienced by Gazans is “hard to convey.”

“We simply do not have enough essential supplies to provide for the survival of internally displaced people at this scale,” Doughten said.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu made clear on Monday that Israel would not agree to a ceasefire, as it responds with unrelenting force to Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks, which killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and saw hundreds taken hostage.

Drawing parallels to the United States’ position after Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the September 11 attacks in 2001, Netanyahu said that while the Bible says there is a time for peace, “this is a time for war.”

“Calls for a ceasefire or calls for Israel to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorists, surrender to barbarism, that will not happen,” he said.

Here’s the latest:

IDF offensive intensifying

The IDF said it attacked hundreds of Hamas targets overnight. IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Tuesday that “in combined and coordinated attacks by the ground and air forces, terrorists were eliminated.”

Videos released by the IDF on Tuesday morning show Israeli soldiers on the ground in Gaza, progressing on foot and in tanks through rural areas as well as in what appears to be a significantly war-damaged urban district.

IDF forces struck “approximately 300 targets” over the past day, including military compounds inside underground tunnels it said belonged to Hamas.

Despite the intensified IDF ground operation, Hamas continued to fire rockets from Gaza. Alarms indicating incoming fire were activated in a number of areas around the Gaza perimeter overnight and early Tuesday.

The Israeli military said Monday its troops killed four prominent Hamas operatives as part of its expanded ground operations in Gaza.

Meanwhile, a Hamas spokesperson said Israel was not successful in entering Gaza “except in some limited areas” and described the humanitarian situation in the enclave as “disastrous.”

The reporter, who was at the hospital on Tuesday morning, counted 44 bodies in the morgue tent being prepared for burial.

The other casualties were killed in airstrikes Monday afternoon on two homes and a wedding hall sheltering residents displaced from northern Gaza, according to Al Dikran.

Dozens of aid workers, journalists killed

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed at least 8,260 people, mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, which draws the information from the Hamas-controlled enclave. More than 70% those killed are from vulnerable populations, including children, women and elderly individuals, the ministry said Monday.

Among the dead are 64 UN aid workers, the highest number of UN aid workers killed in a conflict anywhere in the world in such a short period of time, according to UNRWA’s Lazzarini.

The most recent death was a man called Samir who was killed alongside his wife and eight children, Lazzarini told the UN Security Council.

“Those who are alive, have, for the most part, lost relatives, friends, neighbors and are displaced like the majority of Gazans,” he said, adding that despite the threat to their lives, they continue to “work tirelessly.”

The conflict has also been the “deadliest period” for journalists covering Israel and Gaza since records began in 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

At least 31 journalists have been killed since October 7, including 26 Palestinians, four Israelis, and one Lebanese, the CPJ said, adding that it is investigating “numerous unconfirmed reports” of missing journalists and others who may been killed, detained, injured, or threatened.

Speaking before the UN Security Council Monday, the Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki said, “2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza face death every day and every night” and pleaded with the council to “save them.”

“Look at them as human beings. You cannot look only at one side and ignore this tragic humanity completely,” Al-Maliki said.

Hospitals bear the brunt

Numerous hospitals in Gaza have borne the brunt of airstrikes and shelling, according to aid groups and health workers.

In a social media post early Tuesday morning, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said the Tal Al Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, in which the Al-Quds hospital is located, was under heavy “artillery and airstrikes.”

“The building is trembling,” and those sheltering inside the hospital are “experiencing fear and panic,” the PRCS said.

The organization said over the weekend that Israeli airstrikes have “caused extensive damage to hospital departments and exposed residents and patients to suffocation” at Al-Quds and accused Israel of “deliberately” launching airstrikes “directly next to” the facility in order to force an evacuation of the hospital, the second-largest in Gaza City.

The facility is treating hundreds of patients, while some 12,000 internally displaced civilians are also sheltering there, the agency said.

New hostage video

Hamas on Monday released a short video showing three women who are believed to be captives held by the Palestinian militant group since its October 7 attack.

The women are seated in plastic chairs facing the camera, while one addresses Netanyahu directly with increasing fury, demanding Israeli leaders to “free us all.”

IDF spokesperson Hagari said Hamas was engaging in “mind games” by releasing the footage of the women.

Talks involving the US, Israel, Qatar, Egypt and Hamas are underway to get a group of hostages out of Gaza, a task that sources say has been further complicated by Israel’s expansion of its ground operations.

One hostage – a female Israeli soldier – was rescued Monday during ground operations in Gaza, the IDF said.

“Based on intelligence” the Israeli special forces went into northern Gaza knowing her whereabouts and rescued her, Conricus said, adding that she is “well mentally and physically,” and reunited with her family.

Meanwhile, Shani Louk, a 23-year-old German-Israeli woman who was abducted from the Nova music festival and taken to Gaza has been declared dead, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Monday.

This story is developing and is being updated.

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured wispy new details of cosmic gas and dust within the Crab Nebula, revealing insights into what happens in the aftermath of a massive star explosion.

The Crab Nebula is a well-studied supernova remnant located 6,500 light-years away in the Taurus constellation.

Astronomers in China, Japan and the Middle East first spotted the “crab” in the night sky in 1054, recording their observations of what they believed to be a new star. Later, it was determined that the phenomenon was actually the bright light of a supernova, or exploding star, reaching Earth.

Having historical evidence of a stellar explosion event is rare, which is why there is so much interest in the nebula.

Despite the fact that the relatively nearby Crab Nebula has long been observed, modern astronomers still have questions about the doomed star and the chemical makeup of the glowing cosmic cloud it created.

The Crab Nebula has been studied by other space observatories like the Hubble Space Telescope. But Webb’s ability to view the universe in infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye, was able to pierce through the otherwise obscuring dust of the nebula to pick out previously unseen features.

Researchers used Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera and Mid-Infrared Instrument to study the nebula with the aim of unveiling insights into its origins.

“Webb’s sensitivity and spatial resolution allow us to accurately determine the composition of the ejected material, particularly the content of iron and nickel, which may reveal what type of explosion produced the Crab Nebula,” said Tea Temim, research astronomer at Princeton University in New Jersey, in a statement.

Capturing aspects of the ever-expanding Crab Nebula

Hubble captured the celestial object using an optical wavelength in 2005 (above left), while Webb’s latest infrared image (above right) revealed more of its structural details and inner workings.

Yellow-white and green filaments, made of dust grains, appear in the Webb image for the first time. The prominent smokelike material that dominates the nebula’s interior is evidence of synchrotron radiation, or patterns created by charged particles moving around the lines of magnetic fields.

This milky haze is produced by the nebula’s power source, a pulsar, or a rapidly rotating neutron star. Neutron stars are the dense remnants that form after massive stars burn through their internal nuclear fuel and collapse. The pulsar’s magnetic field accelerates charged particles to the point that they emit radiation as they zoom around the star’s magnetic field lines.

In the new image, rippling, circular wisps point to the nebula’s pulsar heart, seen as a central bright white spot. Closer to the edges of the image are thin white lines that outline the pulsar’s magnetic field, which provides the nebula with its shape. The nebula continues to expand over time as wind created by the spinning pulsar pushes the interior gas and dust outward.

As astronomers continue to analyze the Webb data and compare it with data collected by other telescopes, they are also anticipating a fresh perspective on the nebula from Hubble within the next year. Together, the observations could help astronomers turn back time to unlock what happened before the star exploded.

A 23-year-old German-Israeli woman who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival by Hamas militants on October 7 has been declared dead, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.

“We are devastated to share that the body of 23 year old German-Israeli Shani (Louk) was found and identified,” the ministry posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday.

The bone fragment was from the petrous part of the temporal bone, which is at the base of the skull, normally near the carotid artery, a major blood vessel that provides blood to the brain. A DNA test concluded the fragment belonged to Louk.

Louk was attending the festival in southern Israel on October 7 when Hamas breached the border between Gaza and Israel.

Louk was kidnapped at the festival and “tortured and paraded around Gaza by Hamas terrorists,” the foreign ministry statement said, adding that she “experienced unfathomable horrors.”

“May her memory be a blessing,” the statement said.

The bone fragment, combined with the circumstances surrounding the October 7 attack and video that appeared to show Louk unconscious on the back of a Hamas truck, led investigators to conclude these were her remains.

Militants blocked off the road to the festival from the north and the south during their October 7 attack, before swarming the sprawling site on foot, videos from the site showed.

They then encircled the crowds on three sides, gunning them down and forcing them to flee over fields to the east.

“It looks very bad, but I still have hope. I hope that they don’t take bodies for negotiations. I hope that she’s still alive somewhere. We don’t have anything else to hope for, so I try to believe,” she said.

The body of Louk, a dual Israeli-German citizen, was seen on video seemingly unconscious on the back of a Hamas truck after the music festival attack.

Her mother added that she had sought support from the German government in helping free her daughter. “I don’t understand really how such a brutal thing can just happen in the middle of the day and it was a complete surprise,” Louk said.

A number of hostages were also taken back to Gaza. The latest figure of hostages believed to be held by Hamas in the enclave is up to 239, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Sunday.

A female Israeli soldier who had been kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 was released during ground operations in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said Monday.

The IDF added that “the soldier was medically checked, is doing well, and has met with her family.”

Four hostages had previously been released – an American woman and her daughter, and later an 85-year-old Israeli woman and her 79-year-old friend.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under increasing pressure from the families of hostages for a “comprehensive deal” to ensure their release. These calls are becoming more urgent amid concerns for what Israel’s expanding ground operations could mean for the safety of hostages trapped in Gaza.

Netanyahu met with families of the hostages in Tel Aviv on Saturday, where they demanded answers on the security of their loved ones and pushed him to secure the hostages’ freedom, as Israel’s offensive escalated.

“We spoke bluntly and made it clear to the prime minister in no uncertain terms that a comprehensive deal based on the ‘everyone for everyone’ principle is a deal the families would consider, and has the support of all of Israel,” Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of Romi Gonen, who was kidnapped from the festival, said on behalf of the families in a news conference following the meeting.

An “everyone for everyone” deal would involve the release of the hostages in exchange for Palestinians currently held in Israeli prisons, which the nongovernmental organization Palestinian Prisoners Club estimates to be 6,630 people.

On Monday, Hamas released a short video showing three women who are believed to be captives held by the Palestinian militant group.

The video shows them seated in plastic chairs facing the camera, while the woman in the middle addresses Netanyahu directly with increasing fury. She makes reference to a press conference by families of the hostages “yesterday,” suggesting it was filmed on Monday.

Over the weekend, Israel said it had entered a “second stage” of its war against militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, following weeks of aerial strikes on the isolated territory.

Israel is prepared for a “long and difficult” war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday, as it seeks to root out and “destroy” Hamas after it killed more than 1,400 people in the attack on Israel earlier this month.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza since then has left at least 7,960 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah. Nearly three-quarters – 73% – of those killed are from vulnerable populations, including children, women and elderly individuals, the ministry said Sunday.

Amnesty International said it has documented “unlawful Israeli attacks” that “must be investigated as war crimes,” as Israel argues it is targeting Hamas.

In the weeks since the siege on Gaza began, less than one normal day’s worth of aid has been allowed to reached its residents.

During Israeli ground operations in Gaza, an Israeli soldier who was among the more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas in its October 7 attack was released, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Monday. A 23-year-old German-Israeli woman who was abducted from a music festival and taken to Gaza has been declared dead, Israel’s foreign ministry said earlier in the day.

Israel’s expanded operations sparked new warnings from leaders about the risk of broader regional conflict, as well as heightened calls from the United Nations for a humanitarian ceasefire to deliver desperately needed aid into Gaza.

Here’s the latest:

Offensive will intensify, IDF says

Israel sent more ground forces into Gaza overnight, army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Monday.

“Additional forces have entered the strip. Our activity there is only set to intensify,” he said, adding that dozens of Hamas gunmen had been killed in recent fighting.

Video footage has also emerged of an Israeli tank apparently opening fire on a passenger vehicle as it performed a U-turn on the main road running through Gaza.

“The tank was standing there and targeting anyone who came close to it,” Al Saifi said, describing the incident on his Telegram account. “A car and a bus were both targeted in that area; there was also a bulldozer beside the tank.”

It is not known who was driving the vehicle, nor their condition after the incident.

“I don’t know who was in that vehicle so I assume the media can’t tell for sure as well,” he added.

But as concerns about civilian casualties in Gaza mount, Netanyahu pushed back against the notion that Israel was inflicting collective punishment on the Palestinian people in its pursuit of Hamas, accusing the militant group of preventing civilians from moving to the safe zone in southern Gaza.

US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters later on Monday that the administration believes Israel is making an effort to minimize humanitarian casualties in Gaza. Still, he said, “It doesn’t mean that there haven’t been civilian casualties — tragically, there have been many, thousands of them, but unlike Putin in Ukraine, and unlike what Hamas did on October 7, killing civilians is not a war aim of the Israeli Defense Forces.”

The video, taken Saturday and published by an Israeli media outlet, is one of the first glimpses into where Israeli ground forces have been since expanding ground operations in Gaza overnight Friday.

On Sunday, the IDF said it exchanged fire with Hamas and struck military structures, “some of which contained Hamas terrorists.”

Hostage rescued

A female Israeli soldier who was kidnapped by Hamas, PVT Ori Megidish, was released in IDF ground raids, the Israeli military said Monday. “The soldier was medically checked, is doing well, and has met with her family,” it said.

But another family’s hopes were crushed with an announcement by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which said Monday that 23-year-old Shani Louk had been declared dead. Louk, a German-Israeli woman, was kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7, after Hamas breached the border between Gaza and Israel.

Hamas also released a second short hostage video showing three women who are believed to be captive held by the militant group.

The footage shows them seated in plastic chairs facing the camera, while the woman in the middle addresses Netanyahu directly with increasing fury. She speaks fluently and does not appear to be reading from a script, but because the women are hostages, the statement could have been made under duress.

“You promised to release us all,” she says, suggesting she is aware of hostage negotiations, which fell through. She finishes with a demand to “free us all,” screaming: “Now! Now! Now!”

Relatives of the hostages have named the women as Yelena Trupanob, Daniel Aloni and Rimon Kirsht. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office also confirmed their names in a brief statement.

The Israeli government has been under public pressure to ensure the safety of what Israel has said are 239 known hostages in Gaza, with senior officials portraying the intensifying campaign as part of a strategy to secure their release.

Families of hostages held in Gaza say they told Netanyahu on Sunday they would only accept an “everyone in return for everyone” deal, which would secure the immediate release of all hostages.

An “everyone for everyone” deal would involve the release of Hamas’ hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians currently held in Israeli prisons, which the nongovernmental organization Palestinian Prisoners Club estimates to be 6,630 people.

‘Impossible’ hospital evacuation

Numerous hospitals in Gaza have bore the brunt of airstrikes and shelling, according to aid groups and health workers.

Israeli airstrikes have “caused extensive damage to hospital departments and exposed residents and patients to suffocation” at the Al-Quds Hospital, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Sunday.

The medical organization accused Israel of “deliberately” launching airstrikes “directly next to” the facility in order to force an evacuation of the hospital, the second-largest in Gaza City.

The facility is treating hundreds of patients, while some 12,000 internally displaced civilians are also sheltering there, the agency said.

The organization said it received new warnings on Sunday from Israel to immediately evacuate the hospital ahead of possible bombardment, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has said would be “impossible” to do without endangering patients’ lives.

The hospital is located north of Wadi Gaza, the line Israel has urged people in Gaza to flee south of as it continues to strike what it says are Hamas targets in the north.

The hospital, which is located just to the south of Gaza City, was paid for by the Turkish government, which expressed its anger over the strike in a statement from the Foreign Ministry: “There is no explanation for such an attack, even though all necessary information, including the coordinates of the institution in question…was shared with the Israeli authorities in advance.”

The hospital is in the northeast corner of the Gaza strip, which has come under some of the most sustained Israeli attacks since October 7th.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 491 people have been killed and 372 injured in attacks on the health sector in Gaza since October 7.

Among the casualties, 16 health workers were killed and 30 injured while on duty, the WHO said, adding that 82 attacks on healthcare facilities have been documented in the strip.

‘More desperate by the hour’

Shortages of water, food and fuel continue to drive desperation in the territory, which suffered a communications blackout from Friday evening into Sunday morning. Communication services began to gradually be restored Sunday, after what a senior US official said was American pressure on Israel.

The United Nations has warned that there are signs “civil order is starting to break down” under Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, reporting on Sunday that thousands of desperate Palestinians had taken basic items like flour and hygiene supplies from warehouses.

The chief of the UN’s children agency, Catherine Russell, said the situation was on the verge of “becoming a catastrophe” due to the lack of clean water, warning that more civilians will likely die from dehydration and waterborne illnesses unless clean water supply is restored.

“Only one desalination plant is operating at just 5% capacity, while all six of Gaza’s water-waste treatment plants are now non-operational due to the lack of fuel or power,” the UNICEF chief told the Security Council.

At least ten UN staff members have been killed in the last 72 hours, the UN Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said in a situation update Monday, bringing the total number of staff killed to 64.

“This is the highest number of UN aid workers killed in a conflict in such a short time,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA chief, said in a statement, adding that among the dead was the middle region’s head of security, Samir, who “died with his wife and eight children.”

At least 8,260 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, according to figures released Monday by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah drawn from sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave. More than 21,000 others have been injured.

Women, children and the elderly make up more than 70% of those killed, the ministry said.

At a news conference, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the situation in Gaza was “growing more desperate by the hour,” and reiterated his calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the “delivery of sustained humanitarian relief.”

US President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi Sunday about the need for the continued flow of aid into Gaza and stressed the importance of protecting civilian lives.

Relief group Save the Children said the 3,000 children reported killed in Gaza over the past three weeks has surpassed the annual number of children killed in armed conflict globally in each of the past four years.

The widespread destruction and spiraling death toll has sparked huge anger and protests in the Middle East and beyond.

In the latest incident, an angry crowd in Russia’s mostly Muslim region of Dagestan stormed an airport where a flight from Israel arrived on Sunday, forcing authorities to close the facility and divert flights.

UN vote, regional tensions

Iran, which has long backed Hamas, issued new threats over the weekend that the current conflict risked widening.

Israel has “crossed the red lines” in Gaza, which “may force everyone to take action,” Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said Sunday. US security adviser Jake Sullivan also said there was an “elevated risk” of a spillover conflict in the Middle East.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia over the weekend each issued warnings of the potential for destabilization of regional security following Israel’s expanded operations.

Meanwhile, calls have continued for an humanitarian pause.

The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting Monday, where Lazzarini and Russell briefed council members on the crisis in Gaza and impact on civilians as well as aid workers.

The meeting followed a resolution passed by an overwhelming majority of UN member states in the General Assembly Friday calling for a “sustained humanitarian truce.”

Earlier this month, the United States vetoed a draft resolution at Security Council which called for a humanitarian pause but did not condemn Hamas for its terror attack.

Correction: The post has been updated with the correct spelling of the names of the hostages shown in the video.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

At least 45 coal miners were killed in a fire sparked by a methane gas explosion at a mine in Kazakhstan, authorities in the country said on Sunday.

In a statement, the Ministry for Emergency Situations said the blast sparked a blaze early on Saturday at the Kostenko mine in the Karaganda region, state-owned Kazinform news agency reported.

More than 200 people were evacuated from the mine to safety and search efforts are ongoing for one missing miner, the ministry said.

The mine is owned by Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest producer of steel, and run by its local representative ArcelorMittal Temirtau, which operates multiple coal and iron ore mines across Kazakhstan.

Operations at the firm’s eight mines in the Karaganda region have been suspended and a criminal investigation has been opened by the General Prosecutor’s Office, the ministry said.

In a statement following the blast, ArcelorMittal said it had recently signed a preliminary agreement with the Kazakh government to transfer ownership of ArcelorMittal Temirtau to Kazakhstan and was “committed to completing this transaction as soon as possible.”

“Both parties are very much focused on an outcome that is in the best interests of the people who work at the steel plant and iron-ore and coal mines, as well as the communities the operations support,” the statement said.

On Sunday, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared a national day of mourning for those killed.

The multi-billion dollar mining sector accounted for an estimated 17% of GDP in mineral-rich Kazakhstan in 2021, according to the US International Trade Administration.