Heavy fighting

Hamas has lost contact with hostage guards

Not many of the Hamas hostages in the Gaza Strip are believed to be alive.(Bild: AP)

Following Israeli air strikes, Hamas says it has lost contact with the guards of four hostages in the Gaza Strip. Among them is the US-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who appeared in a Hamas propaganda video about two weeks ago.

When and under what circumstances it was produced remains unknown. It was the first sign of life of the 23-year-old, who was captured by Hamas terrorists on October 7 as one of the visitors to the Nova music festival and abducted to the Gaza Strip. More than 250 people were taken hostage at the time, some have since been released, many more are presumed dead. Now contact with the guards of four of them is said to have been lost.

"Sounds of explosions do not stop"
 The Israeli army is currently fighting in both the south and the north of the Gaza Strip (see video above). On Monday, attacks on Rafah on the border with Egypt were intensified. Residents reported the seizure of an important traffic artery and deaths in an airstrike on a house. "The situation is terrible and the sounds of explosions won't stop," said a 57-year-old resident.

Pictures of the hostages in Tel Aviv(Bild: AP/Petros Giannakouris)

Smoke in Rafah after an attack(Bild: AFP/APA)

Palestinians on the run(Bild: AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)

More and more people are leaving Rafah because they don't want to wait until the last minute "in case tanks suddenly advance and it's too late to retreat." The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) estimates that around 36,000 people have already fled the city since the Israeli army ordered a partial evacuation last week. "In northern Gaza, bombardments and further evacuation orders have caused more displacement and fear for thousands of families. There is no way out. There is no security without a ceasefire," the organization writes on Platform X.

In the north of the Gaza Strip, bombings and further evacuation orders have caused more displacement and fear for thousands of families.

Palästinenser-Hilfswerk

Deaths in attacks in the north
At least 20 Palestinians are said to have been killed in air strikes in the north on Monday night. According to the population, many homes were destroyed. The humanitarian crisis is worsening. According to the World Food Program (WFP), more and more children in the Gaza Strip are malnourished.

On Monday, right-wing extremist Israelis stopped and blocked aid transports for the civilian population. According to Israeli media reports, four of around one hundred activists were arrested, including a minor. Nine trucks were damaged during the protest and relief supplies were pulled from the trucks. Cartons burst open and the contents were scattered across the road. More than one million people in the region are affected by food insecurity and threatened by hunger.