Israeli Forces capture Hamas parliament building in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has captured the parliament building of Hamas, which has been ruling the Gaza Strip after ousting the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The IDF in a statement said that the elite Golani brigade of the Israel military captured the Hamas parliament building on Monday.

IDF soldiers were also seen waving the Israeli flag in the parliament building in Gaza.

It may be noted that since the ground invasion on October 27,the IDF has been making steady progress in the Gaza strip.

The IDF has charged that Hamas of using major hospitals in northern Gaza as its command centres and asked civilians to shift to the southern part of the enclave.

Hamas commanders killed

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said that it had killed several senior Hamas operatives in Gaza including Khamis Dababash, former intelligence chief of the group.

IDF spokesperson Real Admiral Daniel Hagari in a statement on Monday said that the IDF has also killed Tahsin Maslam, Hamas' commander of the combat assistance company, and Yakub Ashur, commander of Hamas' anti-tank guided missile array in the group's Khan Younis Brigade.

Hamas using civilians as human shield: IDF

The IDF also said that it had killed a terrorist who had fired at the forces from the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City. The IDF reiterated that Hamas is using civilians, patients and old-age people as human shields. The group is "using hospitals as command centres", it added.

Ready to free 50 hostages: Hamas

Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, has said that it has informed mediators of its readiness to release 50 women and children hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a five-day ceasefire.

Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson for Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a message on its Telegram channel on Monday that "Qatari mediators have made efforts to release Israeli detainees in exchange for releasing 200 Palestinian children and 75 women", Xinhua news agency reported.

He stressed that the cease-fire should ensure a halt to hostilities and allow aid entry to people in the enclave.

He emphasized that the continued Israeli ground, naval, and aerial aggression threatens the lives of the detainees held by them and by other armed Palestinian factions in Gaza.

The Israeli military operations came in retaliation for the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, in which about 1,200 people were killed in Israel and about 240 hostages were taken, according to Israeli figures.

(With inputs from IANS)