CAIRO: Hamas deployed fighters in Gaza on Monday as a release of hostages seized in the October 7 attacks was under way, Reuters footage showed, in an apparent show of strength by the militant group which President Donald Trump says must disarm.
Reuters footage showed dozens of Hamas fighters lined up at a hospital in southern Gaza, and an armed man wearing the insignia of the Hamas armed wing, the Qassam Brigades. His shoulder patch identified him as a member of the elite “Shadow Unit,” which Hamas sources say is tasked with guarding hostages.
Israel has pummelled Hamas during its two-year-long Gaza offensive, killing thousands of its fighters and many of its leaders in the onslaught that turned much of the Palestinian territory into a wasteland.
Israel’s military said it had received the first seven of 20 surviving hostages after their transfer out of Gaza by the Red Cross.
The remaining 13 confirmed living hostages, along with the bodies of 26 dead hostages and another two whose fate is unknown, are also expected to be released on Monday, along with nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees and convicted prisoners.
The release of the remaining hostages in Gaza along with the Palestinian prisoners is the first stage of Trump’s plan for ending the Gaza war. A ceasefire has been in place since Friday.
The next phase of negotiations must address demands for Hamas to disarm and end its rule of Gaza, the territory it has controlled since expelling President Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority in 2007.
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Hamas deploys fighters as hostages released, in show of strength
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Hamas deploys fighters as hostages released, in show of strength
- Dozens of Hamas fighters line up at a hospital in southern Gaza
Drone strikes blamed on Iran hit Iranian Kurdish camp in Iraq: official, exiled group
IRBIL: Drone stikes blamed on Iran hit on Tuesday a camp hosting Iranian Kurdish fighters and family members in northern Iraq, a local official and an exiled opposition group said.
Iraq’s northern autonomous Kurdish region hosts camps and rear-bases operated by several Iranian Kurdish rebel groups, which have repeatedly faced cross-border strikes from Iran.
A local official in the Koysinjaq district, Tareq Al-Haidari, told AFP “three Iranian drones targeted the Azadi camp, which belongs to Iranian Kurdish opposition parties in the district.”
One drone directly hit the camp’s hospital, wounding one person, said Haidari and a commander from the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI).
PDKI commander Mohammed Nazif Kader told AFP “drones and missiles attacked the camp,” blaming the attack on Iran.
For decades, the Koysinjaq district, known as Koya to Kurds, has been home to the PDKI.
Iran has designated Kurdish opposition groups as terrorist organizations, and has accused them of serving Western or Israeli interests in the past.
These groups have previously fought Iranian security forces in Kurdish-majority areas along the border.
But in recent years, they have largely refrained from armed activity, although they continue to actively campaign from exile against the Islamic republic.
Last week, five groups, including the PDKI, announced a political coalition to seek the overthrow of Iran’s Islamic republic and ultimately to secure Kurdish self-determination.
Iraq’s northern autonomous Kurdish region hosts camps and rear-bases operated by several Iranian Kurdish rebel groups, which have repeatedly faced cross-border strikes from Iran.
A local official in the Koysinjaq district, Tareq Al-Haidari, told AFP “three Iranian drones targeted the Azadi camp, which belongs to Iranian Kurdish opposition parties in the district.”
One drone directly hit the camp’s hospital, wounding one person, said Haidari and a commander from the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI).
PDKI commander Mohammed Nazif Kader told AFP “drones and missiles attacked the camp,” blaming the attack on Iran.
For decades, the Koysinjaq district, known as Koya to Kurds, has been home to the PDKI.
Iran has designated Kurdish opposition groups as terrorist organizations, and has accused them of serving Western or Israeli interests in the past.
These groups have previously fought Iranian security forces in Kurdish-majority areas along the border.
But in recent years, they have largely refrained from armed activity, although they continue to actively campaign from exile against the Islamic republic.
Last week, five groups, including the PDKI, announced a political coalition to seek the overthrow of Iran’s Islamic republic and ultimately to secure Kurdish self-determination.
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