Israel will not hold off on a possible ground invasion of Gaza over the issue of captives being held there, Israel’s energy minister told German tabloid newspaper Bild.

Hamas gunmen killed 1,400 people and took more than 200 hostages in cross-border assault on Oct. 7.

In an interview published on Tuesday, energy minister Israel Katz said everything would be done to bring the hostages home. “But that cannot hinder our actions including the ground offensive, if we decide on it,” he was quoted as saying.

“Hamas wants us to deal with the captives and wants the military to not go in to eliminate their infrastructure. That will not happen,” Katz added.

The armed wing of Hamas said on Monday it had released two more female civilian captives on health grounds in response to Egyptian-Qatari mediation efforts.

 The Canadian government said on Monday it detected a China-linked “Spamouflage” campaign that involved bots posting disinformation and propaganda on the social media accounts of members of parliament, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The Spamouflage campaign, using networks of new and hijacked social media accounts to post bulk messages, took place in August and September, and targeted dozens of MPs from across the political spectrum, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The messages included accusations against the MPs of criminal and ethical violations, a claim that Hawaiian wildfires were caused by a secret U.S. military “weather weapon,” and deepfake videos.

Thousands of such comments in English and French were posted on MPs’ Facebook and X accounts, and the government worked with the platforms to get the bot networks removed.

“This campaign could discourage and make it difficult for MPs to carry out their duties and may dissuade MPs and diaspora communities in Canada from speaking out on issues which concern them,” said a foreign ministry report about the incident.

China-Canada relations turned icy in late 2018 when Canadian police detained a Chinese telecommunications executive. Shortly after, Beijing arrested two Canadians on spying charges. All three have since been released.

Ottawa has also accused Beijing of trying to interfere in its affairs through various schemes, including illegal police stations and the targeting of lawmakers. China has strongly denied all such allegations.

In September, the Trudeau government announced an independent public inquiry into allegations of attempted foreign meddling by China, Russia and others.

The Uttar Pradesh government has set up a special investigation team to investigate into 4,000 madrassas, mostly running along the border with Nepal, which are allegedly receiving funds from abroad, officials said on Monday.

An official said the SIT will examine if the money was used on any illegal activities, like terrorism or forcible religious conversion.

The three-member SIT led by Additional Director General of Police (ADG) Mohit Agarwal of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) was formed on the instructions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a senior official said.

Cyber Cell Superintendent of Police Triveni Singh and Minority Welfare Department Director J Reebha are its other members.

Confirming the setting up of the SIT, ADG Aggarwal said there are about 24,000 madrassas in Uttar Pradesh, of which 16,000 are recognised and 8,000 unrecognised.

About 4,000 madrassas could come under the purview of the investigation and the process of serving notices to them will start this week, an official said.

In the last few years, several madrassas have come up in the areas bordering Nepal, according to officials.

Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Shravasti, Balrampur, Bahraich, Lakhimpur Kheri and Pilibhit share their borders with Nepal.

An official said a complaint was earlier received that the funds received from abroad were allegedly used in anti-national activities.

A survey last year found that “most madrassas” in the border areas were receiving large sums of money, but were unable to give an accurate account of it, he said.

The SIT will serve notice to such madrasas and seek information about transactions into Exchange Earners’ Foreign Currency (EEFC) Accounts, he said.

The SIT will then investigate the madrasas that get funds from abroad, questioning them on the source of the money and activities on which it was used, the official added.