International
Israel’s attack on Gaza intensifies, Hamas threatens to kill hostages
GAZA CITY, TUESDAY — Israel has intensified its air raids on Gaza Strip while continuing to block access to food supplies, fuel, and basic necessities as part of the total blockade on the enclave. Amid this intense bombardment by Israel, Hamas announced the threat of killing the hostages they captured if Israel’s attacks are aimed at civilians without warning.
The number of casualties from the conflict over the past three days has reached 1,600 on both sides. Israeli television reported that the number of casualties from Hamas attacks in southern Israel over the weekend has risen to 900, with at least 2,600 injured. In addition, it is suspected that at least 130 people have been captured by Hamas.
The Gaza Ministry of Health stated that at least 687 Palestinian citizens have died and 3,726 have been injured due to Israeli airstrikes since Saturday. United Nations (UN) data indicates that more than 123,000 Palestinians have been displaced from their homes in Gaza.
A fleet of Merkava tanks from Israel congregated on the outskirts of the northern city of Kiryat Shmona near the border with Lebanon on Sunday (10/8/2023). AFP/JALAA MAREY
Hamas Spokesperson Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said that members of the group continue to fight outside of Gaza and have detained more Israeli citizens until Monday morning. He added that with the Israeli hostages, Hamas aims to release all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
A fleet of Merkava tanks from Israel congregated on the outskirts of the northern city of Kiryat Shmona near the border with Lebanon on Sunday (10/8/2023).
On the third day of the armed conflict between Hamas and Israel on Monday, Israel still found bodies of victims of the Hamas attack in southern Israeli cities over the weekend. Rescue workers found 100 bodies in the small farming community of Beeri after being held by armed groups. The death toll in this community is 10 percent of the local population.
The Israeli military stated that they have taken control of most of the southern regions in Israel. Fierce battles are still raging on the streets in some areas. A military spokesperson mentioned that a number of armed men are still active in the southern regions.
Israel Warning
Meanwhile, in Gaza, tens of thousands of people are evacuating their homes due to the continuous Israeli air strikes that are demolishing buildings. As reported by Reuters news agency, some Palestinian residents claimed to receive phone calls and voice messages via their mobile phones from Israeli security forces, instructing them to leave the area in the northern and eastern parts of Gaza.
In the message, it was conveyed that the Israeli army will be operating in those areas. Residents in the Remal settlement in Gaza City, for example, were forced to evacuate from their homes.
“We bring our children, grandchildren, and sons-in-law. We have to leave. I can say that I am now a refugee. We have no sense of safety and security. What kind of life is this? This is not living,” said Salah Hanouneh (73), a resident of Gaza.”
Several Palestinian residents have reported receiving phone calls and voicemail messages on their mobile phones from Israeli security personnel instructing them to leave their residences in the northern and eastern areas of Gaza.
On Sunday (8/10/2023), Israel declared war on Hamas under the code name “Iron Sword”. They referred to the war as a retaliation for the attack launched by Hamas in southern Israel.
Israel has placed tanks and drones along the Gaza border area to prevent mass infiltration and attacks on Israel. Thousands of Israelis have also been evacuated from dozens of towns near Gaza. At the same time, as many as 300,000 soldiers from Israel’s reserve forces were mobilized in a short time.
Palestinian protesters ride scooters past burning tires during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday (10/8/2023).
The increase in Israel’s attacks threatens greater damage in the densely populated and impoverished Gaza Strip. “We have just started attacking Hamas. What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will echo throughout their history,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a nationally televised speech.
Hamas threat
Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Eli Cohen responded to the threat by warning Hamas not to harm any of the prisoners. “This war crime will not be forgiven,” he said.
On Monday night, the sound of explosions echoed over Jerusalem as a missile hit its target. Israeli fighter planes attacked the residential and commercial district in central Gaza City, Rimal. Prior to the attack, residents were warned to evacuate. As a result of the attack, the building of the Palestinian Telecommunications Company was destroyed.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has ordered a total siege on Gaza. Israeli authorities will also cut off electricity and block supplies of food and fuel to the densely populated Gaza area. Please note that the word “PKS” is a forbidden word in Bahasa Indonesia and should not be translated.
The Israeli blockade will make Gaza rely on the route to Egypt through Rafah. However, the cargo capacity of the Rafah route to Gaza is smaller than the route to Israel.
Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, has warned that the Israeli siege will have disastrous consequences for the population of Gaza.
Also read: Palestine Becomes Test Field for Israeli Military Artificial Intelligence Technology
The action can result in children who are injured to die in the hospital due to lack of energy, electricity, and food supplies. When that happens, the action can be seen as a war crime. “There is no doubt that collective punishment violates international law,” said Egeland.
Dr. Talat Barhoum from Al-Najjar Hospital stated that in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, the Israeli airstrikes on last Monday had killed 19 people, including women and children. (AP/AFP/REUTERS)
There are grave fears for the passengers of a private plane that suddenly vanished mid-flight, sparking a major search off the coast of the US.
US authorities say the Gulfstream G100 lost contact with air traffic control about 2am local time on Saturday (4pm Saturday AET) while flying from L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda to Boston Logan International Airport.
The US Coast Guard said the Federal Aviation Administration alerted it after contact was lost with the aircraft – which plummeted from 23,500 feet to 11,000 feet in just three minutes, according to FlightAware data.
“We are praying for a safe outcome,” a spokesperson for Latitude Air Ambulance, which operates the missing plane, told City News.
A search is now under way off Nantucket in the air and on water as crews work to locate the missing jet, the Coast Guard said. Data from FlightRadar24 showed a number of aircraft searching south of the island.
Six people are missing after a private jet vanished, sparking a major search off the coast of Nantucket in the US.
The plane was en route from Bermuda to Boston when it vanished.
“Air & surface crews have launched in search of the aircraft. Updates will be provided here as info becomes available,” the Coast Guard Northeast District said on X.
The plane was carrying out a medical evacuation in Bermuda – a British overseas territory in the north Atlantic Ocean, according to Clarence Togeretz, Director of Flight Operations at Latitude Air Ambulance.
“We always get rather concerned when our crew doesn’t report to us in a timely manner,” he told NBC News.
“But I will say that again, optimistically and positively, that doesn’t mean that the worst has happened.”
Seventeen people were killed when eight gunmen stormed a bar close to Johannesburg on Saturday evening, with 15 more injured.
In a separate shooting in the early hours of Sunday morning, 10 people were killed outside an entertainment venue in a township near Cape Town and a further 11 were injured.
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world and has struggled to contain gang-related gun violence in recent years. Police have not indicated a motive for either of the latest attacks.
In Johannesburg, gunmen opened fire on customers outside the bar before continuing the attack inside and torching two vehicles before fleeing.
Police said thirteen men and four women were killed.
Deputy provincial police commissioner Maj Gen Fred Kekana said the attack may have been a retaliation for an incident last month, in which one person was killed and another wounded, according to AFP news agency.
Speaking at the scene, he said police had clear pictures and in some cases names for the suspects.
In Cape Town, five victims died at the scene and a further five people died in hospital.
No arrests had been made in either case on Sunday morning.
The two mass shootings came days after 11 people were killed in the city of Duban when gunmen stormed a house in the KwaMakhutha township.
Illegal weapons are prevalent in South Africa and gun violence has been a persistent problem for decades, with about 60 murders recorded every day in the country of 62 million.
But a recent spate of mass shootings has raised fears that the problem is deepening, with violence often linked to turf wars between gangs engaged in drug trafficking and illegal mining.
In February, President Cyril Ramaphosa called organised crime “the most immediate threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development”.
Earlier this year the military was deployed alongside police in areas with the highest murder rates in an effort to reduce armed violence.
On Saturday a tenth woman’s body was found in Ekurhuleni, to the east of Johannesburg, with local police saying they were unable to rule out a serial killer operating in the area with similarities between the deaths. (BBC)
The United States has deported more than 25,000 people under secretive agreements with 35 countries to take migrants with no ties to those nations, according to an investigation published Monday.
Since US President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, Washington has been signing deals with developing countries to take migrants who cannot legally be sent home.
The investigation by Forbidden Stories found the administration has earmarked $410 million to be paid directly to the receiving countries, or to UN agencies to facilitate the returns.
At least 25,447 people had already been deported to third countries by August 31, 2026, according to data compiled by Forbidden Stories with a consortium of international journalists.
The vast majority — around 20,000 — were sent to Mexico, but the rest were dispersed to 27 other countries across Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific, and agreements have been finalised with seven more.
The deals vary, including over which nationalities can be deported and whether people with criminal records can be accepted.
An AFP investigation earlier this year found Washington is using visa bans and restrictions on African countries to strongarm them into accepting deportees.
Lawyers told AFP that deportees were being thrown into a “legal black hole”, held without charge in countries where they have no ties and few if any rights.
Forbidden Stories said 49 of Africa’s 54 countries had been approached about accepting third-country deportees.
A little-known State Department division called the Office of Remigration, created in May 2025, has handled most of the negotiations and payments, according to Forbidden Stories.
The office is headed by Christian Jove Ehrhardt, a 41-year-old diplomat who previously worked as a security officer.
The report details his visits to Cameroon, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the US in December on accepting deportees. A week later, it also signed a five-year health assistance programme worth nearly $400 million.
The following month, the State Department said it would provide a further $30 million to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Cameroon to “facilitate the voluntary return of refugees and combat illegal immigration.”
The first plane carrying deportees arrived in Cameroon on January 14.
– Payments –
Other agreements have involved direct payments to governments.
Palau, a small Pacific island nation with a population of under 18,000, signed an agreement in December 2025 to accept up to 75 third-country nationals in return for $7.5 million.
However, only three people have so far been sent under the agreement.
In Eswatini, 32 people have arrived since July 2025 out of a possible 160 under an agreement worth more than $5 million. It has accepted deportees with criminal records, the investigation found.
Of the $410 million planned for the agreements, internal State Department records showed that $81 million was earmarked for signatory governments.
The rest was intended for aid organisations, including more than $178 million for the UN’s International Organisation for Migration, and $123 million for UNHCR.
The agencies have faced criticism over their involvement, although UNHCR told Forbidden Stories that it was not party to the bilateral agreements and that US funding was being used in line with its mandate to strengthen asylum systems.
An IOM spokesperson told Forbidden Stories that the agency’s decisions to accept funding rested “on a single question: whether our engagement will improve the lives of the migrants affected. In these instances, we believe strongly it does.”
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