Hamas released more hostages Monday — two elderly Israeli women — as Israel ramped up its airstrikes in Gaza and the United States expressed increasing concern about the Israel-Hamas war escalating into a broader Middle East conflict.
In a statement, Hamas said it released the hostages for humanitarian reasons. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it transported 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz and 79-year-old Nurit Cooper, also known as Nurit Yitzhak, out of Gaza on Monday evening.
The militant group released its first two hostages — an American mother and daughter — Friday, nearly two weeks after it carried out its surprise assault on Israel, killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and capturing more than 200 others.
U.S. officials say Washington is advising Israel to delay its planned ground invasion of the Gaza Strip to allow more time to negotiate the release of the hostages being held by Hamas.
Despite the U.S. stance, the Israeli military carried out more than 300 airstrikes Monday on the Gaza Strip.
A ground invasion would likely further complicate any negotiations over hostages, with at least some of them believed to be held in an elaborate web of tunnels that militants have built in Gaza over the years even as Israel has blockaded the territory along the Mediterranean Sea.
Israeli defense chief Yoav Gallant last week vowed to more than 300,000 troops positioned along the Gaza border that they would soon advance into the territory but left open the question of the timing of an invasion.
In other developments, U.S. officials are expressing growing concern that the Israel-Hamas war could spark a wider conflict in the Middle East.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Monday there had been an increase in rocket and drone attacks by Iranian-backed militias on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. He said the United States was “deeply concerned about the possibility for any significant escalation” in attacks in the coming days.
His comments follow those of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin who said during Sunday television interviews that the United States is concerned about an escalation in the region.
Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry said at least 18 people were killed in Israeli attacks on neighborhoods in Rafah city Monday, and scores injured. The Palestinian Health Ministry said that the total death toll in Gaza from more than two weeks of conflict had reached at least 5,087 people, with another 15,273 people injured.
The Israeli military released videos Monday showing airstrikes destroying buildings in the Gaza Strip. The military said the videos showed attacks on Hamas infrastructure but did not specify the locations.
Flashes of yellow light were followed by an explosion sending gray smoke and debris shooting upward as multistory buildings collapsed or toppled over.
Israeli aircraft also struck multiple Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including cells the military said were preparing to launch anti-tank missiles and rockets toward Israel.
Iran-backed militias in Iraq said Monday they hit a strategic base used by the U.S. military in southeastern Syria.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iranian-backed militias, said two drones attacked the al-Tanf garrison near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders, after a string of similar attacks on bases housing U.S. military in Iraq and Syria over the past week.
