The ongoing battles along the eastern front in the war in Ukraine have cost Russia over 9,000 troops in a month, according to Ukrainian sources.

Moscow renewed its interest in the Donestk town of Avdiivka, located just 12 miles north of the Russian-controlled Donetsk city, in early October, pouring thousands of troops into the region in an effort to surround the town and the Ukrainian forces fortified inside. The offensive effort has also ignited heavy fighting in nearby eastern towns such as Marinka and Bakhmut, which fell to Russian control after months of brutal fighting in the spring.

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Israel pounded targets in the crowded southern half of the Gaza Strip on Saturday and ordered more neighborhoods designated for attack to evacuate, driving up the death toll even as the United States and others urged it to do more to protect Gaza civilians a day after a truce collapsed.

At least 200 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting resumed Friday morning following the weeklong truce with the territory’s ruling militant group Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. Several homes were hit across Gaza on Saturday, with multiple casualties reported in a strike that flattened a multi-story building on the outskirts of Gaza City.

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Qatar’s foreign ministry says that 13 women and children held hostage by Hamas in Gaza will be handed over to the Red Cross.

A four-day cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas will begin Friday morning, Qatar said, a day later than originally announced, as negotiators worked out final details of the deal, which is to lead to the release of dozens of hostages held by militants and Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

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The Ukrainian army said Sunday it has pushed Russian forces back “three to eight kilometres” from the banks of Dnipro river, which if confirmed would be the first meaningful advance by Kyiv’s forces months into a disappointing counteroffensive.

Ukrainian and Russian forces have been entrenched on opposite sides of the vast waterway in the southern Kherson region for more than a year, after Russia withdrew its troops from the western bank last November.

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At least 29 more Myanmar soldiers entered India on Thursday fleeing an attack by insurgents on their military base close to the Indian border, an Indian police official said, as rebels step up their assaults against the ruling junta .

Earlier this week, 43 Myanmar soldiers entered India’s Mizoram state after their military bases were overrun by the rebels. Nearly 40 were sent back by Indian authorities through a different border crossing point a few hundred kms east.

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