World News Roundup: NATO's Steadfast Defender exercises mark return to Cold War schemes, Russia says; Air traffic climbs at Israel's Tel Aviv airport in 2023 but war weighs and more

The plane was a charter ambulance flight travelling from Thailand's Utapao Airport in Pattaya to Moscow via India and Uzbekistan on a French-made Dassault Aviation Falcon 10 jet manufactured in 1978, Russian aviation authorities said in a statement. Missile attacks across Middle East raise Gaza escalation risks Missile attacks in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen on Saturday threw into sharp focus the increasing risk of the war in Gaza triggering a wider regional conflict pitting Iran and its allies against Israel and the United States.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Israeli soldiers uncover Gaza tunnel that once held hostages -army

At the end of a kilometer-long, booby-trapped tunnel in the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers discovered cramped cells where the military said Hamas kept about 20 hostages. They found a holding area, five narrow rooms behind metal bars, toilets, mattresses, and even drawings by a child hostage who was freed during a November truce, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

Religious spectacle to mark opening of Ram temple by India's Modi

A grand temple to Hindu god Lord Ram opens on Monday on a site in India millions believe is his birthplace, in a religious spectacle led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi months before he seeks a rare third term in elections. The construction of the temple is a 35-year-old, central promise of Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a contentious political issue that helped catapult the party to prominence and power.

Russian flight carrying 6 disappears over Afghanistan; crash reported

A Russian-registered charter plane with six people on board disappeared from radar screens over Afghanistan a day earlier, Russian aviation authorities said on Sunday, after Afghan police said they had received reports of a crash. The plane was a charter ambulance flight travelling from Thailand's Utapao Airport in Pattaya to Moscow via India and Uzbekistan on a French-made Dassault Aviation Falcon 10 jet manufactured in 1978, Russian aviation authorities said in a statement.

Missile attacks across Middle East raise Gaza escalation risks

Missile attacks in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen on Saturday threw into sharp focus the increasing risk of the war in Gaza triggering a wider regional conflict pitting Iran and its allies against Israel and the United States. Iran said five of its Revolutionary Guards were killed in a missile strike on a house in Damascus which it blamed on Israel, and security sources in Lebanon said an Israeli strike there killed a member of Iran-backed Hezbollah.

UN's Guterres condemns Israel for 'heartbreaking' killings in Gaza

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday denounced Israel for the "heartbreaking" deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and called it unacceptable to resist statehood for the Palestinian people. "Israel's military operations have spread mass destruction and killed civilians on a scale unprecedented during my time as secretary-general," Guterres said at the opening of a summit of the G77+China in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

Twenty-five killed after Ukraine shells Russian-controlled city of Donetsk, officials say

Twenty-five people were killed and 20 injured after Ukrainian forces shelled the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, Denis Pushilin, the Russian-appointed head of the Donetsk region, said on Sunday. According to Alexei Kulemzin, the city's Russian-installed mayor, Ukrainian forces shelled a busy area where shops and a market are located.

Death toll from Israeli strikes in Gaza passes 25,000, Gaza health officials say

The toll of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct. 7 has passed 25,000, health officials in the enclave said on Sunday, amid heavy Israeli strikes and street battles raging across the Hamas-run Strip. Israeli forces and Hamas fighters clashed in several locations, from Jabalia in the north to Khan Younis farther south.

NATO's Steadfast Defender exercises mark return to Cold War schemes, Russia says

The scale of NATO's Steadfast Defender 2024 exercises mark an "irrevocable return" of the alliance to Cold War schemes, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the state RIA news agency in remarks published on Sunday. NATO said on Thursday it was launching its largest exercise since the Cold War involving some 90,000 troops, rehearsing how U.S. troops could reinforce European allies in countries bordering Russia and on the alliance's eastern flank if a conflict were to flare up with a "near-peer" adversary.

Fire erupts at Russia's Novatek Baltic Sea terminal after suspected Ukrainian drone attack

A fire broke out at a Baltic Sea terminal belonging to Novatek, Russia's largest liquefied natural gas producer, after a suspected Ukrainian drone attack, forcing the company to suspend some operations there. The Ust-Luga complex, located on the Gulf of Finland about 170 km (110 miles) west of St. Petersburg, processes stable gas condensate into light and heavy naphtha, jet fuel, fuel oil and gasoil, according to Novatek's website. The port is used to ship processed products to international markets.

Air traffic climbs at Israel's Tel Aviv airport in 2023 but war weighs

Air travel to and from Israel plunged in the last three months of 2023 amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, but the number of passengers travelling through Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv still rose 10% in 2023. The number of international travellers reached 21.1 million in 2023, up from 19.2 million in 2022, the Israel Airports Authority (IAA) said in a report on Sunday.

(With inputs from agencies.)