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Israeli Military Chief Says More Than 1,000 Captives Taken in Gaza


FILE - An Israeli soldier is seen during an army operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, Dec. 12, 2023. The Israeli military has rounded up hundreds of people across the Gaza Strip since the Hamas militant group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
FILE - An Israeli soldier is seen during an army operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, Dec. 12, 2023. The Israeli military has rounded up hundreds of people across the Gaza Strip since the Hamas militant group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israeli forces have taken more than 1,000 people captive in the war against Hamas in Gaza, Israel's military chief said on Sunday.

Addressing soldiers inside the bombarded enclave, Chief of the General Staff Major-General Herzi Halevi said that when combatants "lay down their arms and raise their hands, we arrest them, we don't shoot them."

"We get a lot of intelligence from the captives we have, we already have over a thousand," Halevi said in a video distributed by the military.

Halevi's comments came after soldiers accidentally shot dead three Israeli hostages whom the army says were waving a white flag and trying to be rescued.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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