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Hamas’s leaders are “dead men walking”, an Israeli military spokesman has warned, as the country claims its troops have advanced to the “heart” of Gaza City.

Israel has continued to bombard the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave since the militant group’s attack on 7 October, which Israel says killed 1,400 people and left 240 civilians hostage in Gaza.

In the latest development, the Israeli military claimed it has killed a “senior Hamas weapons developer”, Mahsein Abu Zina, as it targeted the militants’ tunnel network beneath Gaza.

Follow live: Israel claims Hamas weapons leader killed

But Jonathan Conricus, the acting spokesperson for the Israeli military, said “many more” leaders remain.

“The directive is definitely to kill or capture all the leaders of Hamas, those who planned, facilitated and executed the murderous 7 October massacre in Israel,” he told Sky News in Australia.

“We’ve said so clearly. All of them are dead men walking and it’s only a matter of time inside Gaza and outside of Gaza, until these Hamas leaders will either be captured or killed by Israel.”

Other key developments:
• Hamas-led health ministry says the number of people killed in Gaza since the start of the war has risen to 10,569;
• Shadow minister quits Labour’s frontbench in protest at Sir Keir Starmer’s position on the Israel-Hamas war;
• US Congress’s only Palestinian-American Rashida Tlaib censured over Israel comments.

New satellite imagery analysed by Sky News shows several fires in Gaza City over the past two days, in a sign the Israeli military is concentrating firepower in the city centre.

Satellite radar detected only minimal damage in this area on 5 November, but Sky News is unable to confirm what’s causing the fires that have broken out since.

Israeli forces say they have encircled Gaza City, which is the Hamas militant group’s main stronghold in the territory.

With the war now entering its second month, UN officials and G7 nations stepped up appeals for a humanitarian pause in the hostilities to help alleviate the suffering in Gaza.

Buildings have been flattened and basic supplies are running out, while Palestinian officials claim more than 10,000 people have been killed, 40% of them children.

Read more:
How Israel split Gaza into two
Which countries are calling for a ceasefire?

The level of death and suffering is “hard to fathom”, UN health agency spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said in Geneva.

Palestinian media reported clashes between militants and Israeli forces near al Shati refugee camp in Gaza City.

Israel, meanwhile, claimed on Tuesday one of Hamas’s leaders in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, has been cornered in his bunker.

Gaza has been under attack since the war broke out

‘No ceasefire until hostages free’

Should Israel achieve its stated goal of eliminating Hamas in Gaza, it is not clear what its long-term plans for the region would be.

Primer Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday Israel would seek security responsibility for Gaza for an indefinite period after the war.

Officials, however, said Israel is not interested in governing the enclave.

Read more:
Lebanon’s foreign minister ‘less pessimistic’ about war spreading
Woman describes how she escaped Hamas capture – but husband and son were taken hostage

In the meantime, Israel says it will not agree to a ceasefire until the hostages are released, while Hamas says it will not stop fighting as long as Gaza is under attack.

This comes despite Israelis expressing fears the military operations could endanger the hostages, who are believed to be in the tunnels.

The fighting is concentrated in the north and Israel has repeatedly told civilians to flee to the south – but it has been bombing southern areas as well.

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Four more arrests made over Louvre heist as £76m haul remains missing

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Four more arrests made over Louvre heist as £76m haul remains missing

Four more arrests have been made by French police investigating the Louvre museum heist.

Two men and two women from the Paris region were detained on Tuesday, prosecutor Laure Beccuau said.

Ms Beccuau’s statement did not say what role the quartet are suspected of having played in the robbery. The two men are aged 38 and 39, and the two women are aged 31 and 40.

They are being interrogated by police, who can hold them for questioning for 96 hours.

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Louvre: How ‘heist of the century’ unfolded

The latest arrests come after investigating magistrates filed preliminary charges against three men and one woman who were arrested last month.

Some of the French Crown Jewels, worth an estimated £76m, were stolen in the audacious October raid.

The haul – which included a diamond and emerald necklace Napoleon gave to Empress Marie-Louise, jewels linked to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amelie and Hortense, and Empress Eugenie’s pearl and diamond tiara – has not been recovered.

The heist was pulled off in mere minutes last month – and took place while the Louvre was open to visitors, raising doubts over the credibility of the world’s most-visited museum as a guardian for its priceless works.

On Sunday 19 October, two men used a stolen furniture lift to access the second floor Galerie d’Apollon.

They then cracked open display cases with angle grinders before escaping with their loot and fleeing on the back of two scooters driven by accomplices.

Read more:
Louvre director offers to resign
Gallery closed as structure in ‘dire state’

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Moment thieves escape Louvre in jewel heist

The Paris prosecutor previously said the robbery appeared to be the work of small-time criminals rather than professional gangsters.

Speaking shortly after the heist, art detective Arthur Brand told Sky News that detectives faced a “race against time” to recover the stolen treasure.

“These crown jewels are so famous, you just cannot sell them,” Mr Brand said. “The only thing they can do is melt the silver and gold down, dismantle the diamonds, try to cut them. That’s the way they will probably disappear forever.

“They [the police] have a week. If they catch the thieves, the stuff might still be there. If it takes longer, the loot is probably gone and dismantled. It’s a race against time.”

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Zelenskyy is racing to beat Donald Trump’s peace plan deadline – but what will Russia do?

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Zelenskyy is racing to beat Donald Trump's peace plan deadline – but what will Russia do?

Washington woke up this morning to a flurry of developments on Ukraine.

It was the middle of the night in DC when a tweet dropped from Ukraine’s national security advisor, Rustem Umerov.

He said that the US and Ukraine had reached a “common understanding on the core terms of the agreement discussed in Geneva.”

He added that Volodymyr Zelenskyy would travel to America “at the earliest suitable date in November to complete final steps and make a deal with President Trump”.

Ukraine latest: ‘Delicate’ deal details must be sorted, White House says

By sunrise in Washington, a US official was using similar but not identical language to frame progress.

The official, speaking anonymously to US media, said that Ukraine had “agreed” to Trump’s peace proposal “with some minor details to be worked out”.

More on Donald Trump

In parallel, it’s emerged that talks have been taking place in Abu Dhabi. The Americans claim to have met both Russian and Ukrainian officials there, though the Russians have not confirmed attendance.

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Peace deal ‘agreement’: What we know

“I have nothing to say. We are following the media reports,” Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, told Russian state media.

Trump is due to travel to his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago tonight, where he will remain until Sunday.

He set a deadline of Thursday – Thanksgiving – for some sort of agreement on his plan.

We know the plan has been changed from its original form, but it’s clear that Zelenskyy wants to be seen to agree to something quickly – that would go down well with President Trump.

Read more:
US hails ‘tremendous progress’ on Ukraine peace plan

In full: Europe’s 28-point counter proposal

My sense is that Zelenskyy will try to get to Mar-a-Lago as soon as he can. Before Thursday would be a push but would meet Trump’s deadline.

It will then be left for the Russians to state their position on the revised document.

All indications are that they will reject it. But maybe the secret Abu Dhabi talks will yield something.

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‘Dead’ Thai woman sent to crematorium wakes up in coffin

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'Dead' Thai woman sent to crematorium wakes up in coffin

A woman brought in for cremation at a Thai temple was found alive in her coffin.

The 65-year-old had been taken to Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok, after she appeared to stop breathing two days earlier.

Her family had travelled hundreds of miles with her body in the coffin and were preparing for her to be cremated.

However, moments before the service began a shocked temple manager, Pairat Soodthoop, said he heard a faint knock coming from inside the coffin.

Ambulance workers lift the woman in her coffin. Pic: AP
Image:
Ambulance workers lift the woman in her coffin. Pic: AP

“I was a bit surprised, so I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was startled,” he said.

“I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin. She must have been knocking for quite some time.”

The cremation was due to be live-streamed by the temple.

More on Health

Thairath, the nation’s best-selling newspaper, named the woman in question as Chonthirat Sakulkoo, and said she was brought in by her brother, Mongkol Sakulkoo.

The brother said she had been bedridden for about two years before her health deteriorated further and she became unresponsive, appearing to have stopped breathing, according to Mr Soodthoop

The woman in her coffin. Pic: AP
Image:
The woman in her coffin. Pic: AP

So, the brother placed her in a coffin and drove her 300 miles (500km) from their home in Phitsanulok province, in the north of the country, to the capital, Bangkok.

The Bangkok Post reported that the woman’s brother had been told by local officials that his sister had died.

The woman had wished to donate her organs to a hospital in the Thai capital, but her brother was turned away as he did not have the relevant paperwork.

Read more:
‘I attended my own send-off’: Inside a living funeral
Funeral director on why she speaks to dead people

Instead, he went to the temple, which offers a free cremation service.

After the woman was discovered alive she was assessed and sent to Bang Yai Hospital, Thairath reported, where she was treated for hypoglycemia, before being released back to her brother.

The woman in her coffin. Pic: AP
Image:
The woman in her coffin. Pic: AP

Asked how he felt to learn that his sister is still alive, Mr Sakulkoo said he was indifferent, according to the newspaper.

Mr Soodthoop, said the temple would cover her medical expenses.

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