Middle East updates: Israeli strike kills 19 — medics

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Tuesday published video footage of a tunnel 20 meters (65 feet) beneath the Gaza Strip in which they say six hostages were held and killed by Palestinian militants.

In the video, which the military said was filmed last Friday, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari descends into the tunnel which he says was the final resting place of the six Israeli captives whose deaths were announced on September 1.

"They were in this tunnel for weeks or days … in horrific conditions, where there is no air to breathe," said Hagari, pointing out bloodstains on the floor from when he said the hostages were shot.

Inside the tunnel, the entrance to which appeared to be beneath a children's room or nursery with paintings of cartoon characters on what remained of the walls, Israeli forces said they found mattresses, clothing, a chess set, copies of the Qur'an, AK-47 magazines and bottles filled with urine.

"There are still 101 hostages, some of them still alive, in the same conditions in tunnels like this in Gaza," said Hagari, promising that the IDF will use "all means" to "bring them back home alive."

Back in Israel, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum campaign group called the footage "shocking" and warned that "time is running out" to free those still in captivity, but criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government for what they called "unparallelled silence and inaction."

The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip confirmed on Tuesday that at least 19 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a tent emplacement in a designated humanitarian zone.

"Nineteen martyrs were brought to hospitals ... while more than 60 people were wounded, some of them seriously," the ministry said in a statement, adding that more victims were likely still buried in the rubble.

Earlier, Gaza's Civil Defense Agency had provided a higher death toll of 40, which DW and others reported.

Asked about the discrepancy between the figures, Mahmud Bassal, a spokesman for the Civil Defense Agency, said: "We cannot doubt the Health Ministry's report. If they said 19, then it is 19 martyrs. They bear the responsibility."

The final death toll from the incident remains unclear. The Health Ministry has cautioned the number of people killed in the strike could yet rise, pointing out that "an undetermined number of victims are still beneath the rubble and the sand and on the roads who haven't reached the hospitals yet."

The Israeli military also said that the figure of 40 did "not align with the information" it had, nor with the damage expected from the munitions it used in the strike, which it said, without providing evidence, targeted "a command-and-control center embedded inside the humanitarian area in Khan Yunis." 

It said some of the dead were "directly involved in the execution" of Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel.

Hamas, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and others, said this was "a blatant lie." 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has strongly condemned a deadly Israeli air strike in a designated safe zone in southern Gaza on Tuesday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said. 

"The use of heavy weapons in densely populated areas is unconscionable," Dujarric said. 

He added: "Palestinians had moved to this area in Khan Younis in search for shelter, in search of safety, after being repeatedly instructed to do so by the Israeli authorities themselves."

The Israeli military is close to achieving its goals in the Gaza Strip and preparing to focus on the country's northern border with Lebanon, according to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

"The center of gravity is moving northward," Gallant told troops on Israel's northern border in a video published by his office. "We are nearing the completion of our missions in the south, but our task here is not yet done."

Earlier, Gallant had told reporters that "Hamas as a military formation no longer exists," claiming the Palestinian militant group is now only capable of guerilla warfare (see post earlier).

The defense minister's comments about turning the military focus northwards followed remarks on Monday, but only made public on Tuesday, in which he had said a potential cease-fire deal involving the return of Israeli hostages held by Hamas would also be a "strategic chance" for Israel.

"Reaching such an agreement would also be a strategic chance … to change the situation in matters of security on all fronts," he said.

Since the October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the retaliatory campaign in Gaza, Israel has also been exchanging rocket fire at its northern border with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on an almost daily basis.

The Iran-backed militia is an ally of Hamas but is considered to be significantly better armed.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Aysenur Ezgi Eygi,a Turkish-American activist killed in the West Bank last week, was likely shot "indirectly and unintentionally" by Israeli gunfire.

According to the military, the shot was not aimed at Eygi but at the main instigator of a protest she was participating in. The group was protesting an illegal Israeli settler outpost near the town of Beita.

In a statement, the IDF said that during the disturbance "dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tires and hurled rocks toward security forces."

The International Solidarity Movement, to which Eygi belonged, said the protest was peaceful and denied that its activists threw stones.

"The IDF expresses its deepest regret over the death of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi," the military statement added.

Turkey has condemned her death, and US Secretary Antony Blinken said the killing was "unprovoked and unjustified" and showed the Israeli security forces needed to make some fundamental changes in their rules of engagement. 

On Saturday, Eygi's family released a statement on her killing, saying that "given the circumstances of Aysenur's killing, an Israeli investigation is not adequate."

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Tuesday that Hamas' military capabilities had been severely reduced after almost a year of war.

"Hamas as a military formation no longer exists. Hamas is engaged in guerrilla warfare and we are still fighting Hamas terrorists and pursuing Hamas leadership," Gallant told reporters.

His comments came as mediators the United States, Qatar and Egypt struggle to reach an agreement for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. The war has so far resulted in the deaths of more than 40,000 people.

Jordan is holding parliamentary elections on Tuesday, with the war in Gaza and its effect on the country's tourism industry being a major point of contention for voters.

Polls opened at 7:00 am (0400 UTC) local time Tuesday.

The election is the first since the passage of a reform that increased the number of seats in the house, increased the number of reserved seats for women and lowered the minimum age for candidates.

In 1994, Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel, making it the second Arab state after Egypt to do so.

Around half of the kingdom's population is of Palestinian origin, and there have been regular protests calling for the cancelation of the treaty.

The opposition Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, has voiced its opposition to normalization with Israel.

The IAF is Jordan's largest opposition party, but it is only presenting 38 candidates for the 138-seat assembly.

Jordan has seen a decline of tourism since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7. The sector provides around 14% of the kingdom's GDP.

Jordan's parliament has limited power, with King Abdullah II having the final say on policy decisions.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is set to visit Egypt's capital Cairo on Tuesday where he is expected to discuss the crisis in the Middle East with Egyptian officials.

He also seeks to acknowledge the "deep, historic, growing and diverse ties between Egypt and Germany," according to his office.

Steinmeier's office said that Egypt is a "central foreign policy and security actor in the region and a dedicated negotiator in the current crisis in the Middle East."

Egypt has acted as a mediator in talks between Israel and the Hamas militant group alongside the US and Qatar in efforts to bring about a cease-fire and hostage release deal.

An Israeli strike on a humanitarian zone in the south of the Gaza Strip killed at least 40 people and injured dozens more, according to the civil defense agency in the Hamas-run enclave.

The AFP news agency cited civil defense official Mohammed al-Mughair as saying that 40 people were killed and 60 were injured in the strike.

The Shehab news agency, which is affiliated with Hamas, and the Wafa news agency, which is linked to the Fatah party that dominates the Palestinian National Authority based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, also reported 40 deaths.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it had targeted a Hamas command center in the area and accused Hamas of using human shields.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) accused Palestinian militant groups of continuing to "systematically abuse civilian and humanitarian infrastructure, including the designated Humanitarian Area, to carry out terrorist activity against the State of Israel and IDF troops."

Hamas denied claims that its fighters were present at the site, calling it a "blatant lie."

The strike hit the Mawasi area of the southern city of Khan Younis, which had been designated as a humanitarian area by Israel.

The Gaza civil emergency service said at least 20 tents caught on fire and missiles caused craters as deep as nine meters (30 feet).

sdi/kb (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)