Israel launched a massive air and artillery bombardment on Gaza after Hamas’ October 7 attack. (File)

Hamas’s armed wing said Thursday that “almost 50” Israeli hostages held by its operators in the Gaza Strip have been killed since Israel began bombarding the Palestinian territory.

“(Ezzedine) Al-Qassam Brigades estimates that the number of Zionist prisoners who were killed in the Gaza Strip as a result of Zionist strikes and massacres has reached almost 50,” the group said in a statement issued on its Telegram channel.

AFP was not immediately able to verify the claim. Israel launched a massive air and artillery bombardment on Gaza after Hamas carried out a brutal attack on Israel on October 7.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

The campaign started in early August and accelerated in September.

Ottawa:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several other Canadian MPs have been targeted by a ‘Spamouflage’ campaign connected to China, Canada-based CTV News reported.

Under this campaign, a bot network leaves thousands of comments on their social media accounts, making nefarious claims.

However, despite the situation, the Canadian government is not acting steadfastly enough to take any further action over this ‘Spamouflage’ campaign, as per CTV News.

According to a statement from Global Affairs Canada (GAC), the federal government’s ‘Rapid Response Mechanism’ (RRM) detected the campaign, which it says traces back to the People’s Republic of China.

The campaign started in early August and “accelerated in scale” over the long weekend in September. It targeted MPs across the country and across the political spectrum, posting comments in both English and French on their Facebook and X accounts, CTV News reported.

The deluge of posts claimed a critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Canada had accused the targeted MPs of criminal and ethical violations, including the “likely use” of deep fake videos, according to the Canadian government’s RRM.

Those targeted also included Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and several cabinet ministers, but none of what GAC observed poses a risk to their safety, the department said.

Liberal MP Omar Alghabra told reporters that he was notified by the government that he was one of the MPs who was targeted.

The former Transport Minister said that he received an email that reassured him there was “no direct threat,” but beyond that, he had little information about how that assessment was reached, CTV News reported.

Mr Alghabra said he did receive repetitive social media messages from different names and different handles directing his followers to see what an individual in Vancouver was saying about him, that he was “corrupt, and involved in a corruption.”

“It was repeatedly posted… It clearly looked like spam, it looked like spam to me at the time. And now I know that it was orchestrated,” CTV News quoted Alghabra as saying.

“Spamouflage is a tactic that uses networks of new or hijacked social media accounts to post and amplify propaganda messages across multiple platforms,” according to the Canadian government.

The team that monitors online spaces for foreign state-sponsored disinformation said the goal of this campaign was likely to discredit and denigrate MPs through what – to the average user – would appear to be organic posts, alleging impropriety by using a popular Chinese-speaking figure and silence criticism of the CCP by pushing MPs to distance themselves from the critic, while discouraging other communities online from engaging with this individual, CTV News reported.

Speaking to reporters, Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair said Canada’s cybersecurity experts are working to determine the full extent to which Canadian government officials may have been targeted.

The same bot networks have also been used in the past to spread disinformation, and the GAC said after reaching out to Meta and ‘X’ to make the platforms aware of the most recent activity, much of it is in the process of being removed.

In August, the same foreign interference monitoring system revealed it had detected an “information operation” targeting Conservative MP Michael Chong on Chinese instant messaging platform WeChat.

In a statement to CTV News, Mr Chong said the current Liberal government – which created the RRM – has not done enough to protect Canadians on Canadian soil from “threats of authoritarian governments.”

“From foreign police stations illegally operating here to interference in our elections, these foreign interference threats have disproportionately targeted diaspora communities. It’s time the Trudeau government put the safety and security of Canadians first,” CTV News quoted the Conservative foreign affairs critic.

Meanwhile, affected parliamentarians have been offered a briefing with federal officials on their findings, and all MPs have been made aware of the campaign, and provided advice on protecting themselves.

GAC has stated that it will continue to monitor the issue for future cases as these kinds of campaigns can undermine Canada’s democracy and discourage MPs and members of diaspora communities from speaking out.

However, Monday’s release offers no indication the Canadian government plans to take any further action over this ‘Spamouflage’ campaign, noting a public inquiry into foreign interference by China and other state actors, is underway, CTV News reported.

The military has offered money, confidentiality to anyone with information regarding hostages.

The Israeli military began offering cash and protection for anyone who shares accurate information on the whereabouts of hostages held by militant group Hamas.

Gazans found the leaflets on the streets across Gaza on Tuesday after they’ve been dropped from Israeli aircraft, the latest in a slew of steps by Israel to locate some of the people Hamas is holding captive.

“If your will is to live in peace and to have a better future for your children, do the humanitarian deed immediately and share verified and valuable information about hostages being held in your area,” read the leaflets, written in Arabic and shared by the Israel Defense Forces. 

“The Israeli military assures you that it will invest maximum effort in providing security for you and your home, and you will receive a financial reward. We guarantee you complete confidentiality,” they said.

More than two weeks after Hamas attacked and killed around 1,400 Israelis, there are growing calls inside the country to rethink the scope of a ground invasion that had been expected any day. The fate of the hostages – estimated at around 200 including perhaps several dozen who are dead – is one of the main concerns that have so far held back the land incursion.

Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the US and European Union, has so far released four hostages, including two elderly people that were set free on Monday through Qatar’s mediation.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The girl, looking visibly scared, was sitting inside her home – a thatched hut.

Bhopal/Satna:

A month ago, heartbreaking visuals from Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain shocked the entire country. A girl, half-naked and bleeding, was seen roaming the streets knocking on many doors, pleading for help on September 25. For two hours, she passed by over 500 houses, eateries and a toll booth but no one helped her until a temple priest saw her, took her to a hospital and called the police.

She spent several days in the hospital fighting for her life, her story made headlines for several weeks, and the state government made big promises but the promises are yet to turn into action. Now, she is home and her health has improved but the wounds from hollow promises are fresh.

NDTV team reached the girl’s village near Satna to see her condition. The girl, looking visibly scared, was sitting inside her home – a thatched hut.

“No one from the district came to help me here, I graze goats. I did not get any help from the Sarpanch, no one came,” said the survivor’s grandfather.

The girl who was discharged from the hospital only 12 days ago (October 12), now walks a distance of 300 meters every day to fetch water from a hand pump with her aunt.

The family claims the village has two handpumps – one for the upper caste and one for the lower caste community.

“We are from the lower caste, that’s why nobody came to help us,” said her brother.

The victim belongs to the Scheduled Caste – Dohar – community, her brother said that is why the Sarpanch – who is a Rajput – and the administration did not help them. There are about 700 voters in the village, half of whom are from the upper caste, and half are Dalit.

The man who raped her – an auto driver who allegedly picked up the 15-year-old survivor from the railway station – was caught soon after the horrifying video went viral. The CCTV footage showed the girl, draped in rags, going door-to-door, seeking assistance.

Commenting on the incident, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had earlier said, “The accused has injured the soul of Madhya Pradesh, she is the daughter of the state, and we will take care of her in every way”.

When NDTV tried to ask Mr Chouhan the status of the benefits that the survivor should get, his reply was a ‘namaskar’.

The survivor’s neighbours say the biggest help they received after returning home was Rs 1,500 from a BJP candidate, Surendra Singh Garewar.

“Till now no one has helped then. She is buying medicines from the hospital. She did not get any benefit from the government or administration,” said a neighbour.

The family claimed that the only help they got from the government was a social justice pension of Rs 600 per month.

Statistics show that crimes against Dalits in Madhya Pradesh are higher than the national average. 50,900 incidents of crime against Scheduled Castes were reported in the country in 2021.

In Madhya Pradesh, this figure was 7,211. The crime rate against Scheduled Castes in the country in 2021 was 25.3 per cent, while in Madhya Pradesh it was 63.6%.