Mcthomas updates

  In a tense standoff that unfolded on a  Swiss train , authorities have reported that a man armed with an axe and a knife held 15 passengers, hostage, for nearly four hours before being fatally shot by police. The incident occurred in the town of Essert-sous-Champvent on a train travelling between Baulmes and Yverdon-les-Bains in the Swiss canton of Vaud, near the French border. According to Reuters, citing BTA, Swiss  police  intervened after the  hijacker , identified as a 32-year-old Iranian man who had applied for asylum, refused to release the hostages. Fortunately, all the  hostages  emerged from the ordeal unharmed, but the  hijacker  succumbed to his injuries sustained during the  police  operation. In a statement, the Vaud canton  police  confirmed the resolution of the hostage situation, stating, " All the  hostages  were released unharmed. The  hijacker  was fatally wounded during the intervention. " However, authorities did not provide details regarding the motiv

 Tel Aviv:  Israel has called securing the freedom of the hostages abducted to the Gaza Strip a key goal in its war against Hamas, so many in the country were shocked when it emerged that at least one-fifth of the captives were already dead. The news is likely to worsen a furore in Israel, where a debate over the government’s course of action in Gaza regarding the hostages has become divisive. Images of those taken hostage by Hamas militants are projected on the outer wall of the Old City of Jerusalem. CREDIT: SERGEY PONOMAREV/THE NEW YORK TIMES Israeli intelligence officers have concluded that at least 30 of the remaining 136 hostages captured by Hamas and its allies on October 7 have died since the start of the war, according to a confidential assessment reviewed by  The New York Times . The bodies of two other dead Israelis, killed in 2014 during a previous war between Israel and Hamas, have been held in the territory ever since, bringing the total number of slain hostages inside Ga