Israel kills Hamas operative who led Oct. 7 massacre An Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip killed a Hamas militant who led the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on a kibbutz near the Palestinian enclave that left 75 soldiers and civilians dead, Israel Defense Forces officials announced Thursday. Haitham Razek Abd al-Karim Sheikh Khalil, commander of a Hamas terror battalion, was killed in Wednesday’s strike on a command post in Gaza City half a mile from Israeli troops. “Several Hamas terrorists operated from within the command center in order to plan and execute terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDFsoldiers,” Israeli…

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE EU divided over Russian asset seizure – Kremlin The Kremlin is aware of divisions within the EU over the fate of frozen Russian assets, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Some members of the bloc are opposed to seizing the funds, citing legal risks. An estimated $300 billion worth of Russian sovereign assets was frozen by the West following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. Around €200 billion ($209 billion) of this is held by Euroclear, a Brussels-based clearing house. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has repeatedly called for the funds to be tapped…

Hamas quietly cuts Gaza death count, reveals most killed were combat-age men Hamas has revised its casualty figures from the Gaza war, removing hundreds of names from its official list of war fatalities, and revealing that 72% of those killed between ages 13 and 55 were males – a demographic largely composed of combatants. The updated figures contradict Hamas'earlier claims that most casualties were women and children. Salo Aizenberg, from the U.S.-based nonprofit HonestReporting, uncovered the changes through a detailed analysis of Hamas’ casualty lists. The investigation revealed that 3,400 names, including over 1,080 children, were removed from the group’s…

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE Ukraine’s top general demands 30,000 conscripts a month Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Aleksandr Syrsky, has said Kiev must mobilize 30,000 soldiers every month to sustain resistance against the Russian army. He also highlighted the growing disparity between the military capabilities of the two countries. In an interview published on Wednesday by the Ukrainian outlet lb.ua, Syrsky claimed that Russia can mobilize up to 5 million trained and experienced troops, with a total potential force of 20 million. He emphasized this gap to underscore the urgency of continued mobilization by Ukraine amid the mounting battlefield pressure. According to Syrsky, Russian forces…