world news
Israel-Hamas deal: These are the 10 hostages released on Tuesday
Israel has confirmed the identities of the 10 hostages that were released Tuesday evening, after 52 days of being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The group is made up of mainly elderly hostages and certain family members.
An additional two Thai citizens were released by Hamas on Tuesday.
Ditza HeimanDitza Heiman, 81, lived alone on Kibbutz Nir Oz and was famous for her “grandma’s soup.” As she locked herself in the safe room during the Hamas attacks on October 7, she spoke with family members as they as they checked up on the mother of four, stepmother of three, grandmother to 20 and great-grandmother of five.
The last time contact was made with Heiman was around 10 a.m., when, at 4 p.m., someone answered her phone and began speaking in Arabic.
Tamar Metzger
Ofir, the Metzger’s grandson, said after the attacks that he was in touch with his grandfather via WhatsApp and that Yorem appeared to suggest everything was ok until contact was cut.
A week later, the family was told that phone tracking proved that Yoram and Tamar were in Gaza. When Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Yitzhak, also members of Kibbutz Nir Oz, were released from Hamas captivity on 26 October, Yocheved let the family know that she had seen Yoram and Tamar alive in Gaza.
Noralin Babadilla Agojo
Noralin Babadilla Agojo, 60, and her partner, Gidon Babani, were visiting friends in Kibbutz Nirim to celebrate its 70th anniversary when Hamas attacked. Gidon was tragically killed and Noralin was kidnapped by Hamas and taken to Gaza.
Exo, her brother, recalled later her last words to him before contact was cut: “We just wanted to celebrate. I’m shaking; maybe I won’t come home.”
Ada Sagi
Ada Sagi, 75, is a mother of three and described as a kind, peace-loving person. Born in Tel Aviv in 1948, the daughter of Holocaust survivors from Poland, Ada learned Arabic in order to make friends with her neighbors close to Kibbutz Nir Oz and later taught the language to others as a way to improve communication with the Palestinians who live on the Israel-Gaza border.
Her son Noam stated he last heard from his mother at 9:20 a.m. on October, when his mother called to say she could hear voices speaking in Arabic outside her home, after which she entered the safe room.
Ada suffers from asthma and other significant allergies and it is assumed she has had not had access to an EpiPen during her time in captivity.
Ada Sagi was preparing to travel to London to celebrate her birthday.
Merav Tal
Yair Yaakov, 59, and his girlfriend, Merav Tal, 53, were taken captive from their Kibbutz Nir Oz home during the Hamas attacks on October 7.
Yair’s two sons, Or and Yagil, 16 and 12, were not with the couple but were at their mother’s house, also on Kibbutz Nir Oz.
Merav sent a voice message at 9:20 a.m. that Hamas terrorists had entered their home and that Yair was trying to secure the door to the safe room to fend off the terrorists. That was the last time they were heard from.
Rimon Kirsht Buchshtav
Rimon Kirsht Buchshtav, 36, who worked in alternative medicine, and her husband, Yagev Buchshtav, 34, were taken hostage from Kibbutz Nirim on October 7..
The couple met in high school and married in 2021. They were hiding in the safe room of their home when Rimon messaged her family saying she saw fire and terrorists shooting outside “everywhere.” She sent her parents, who were also sheltering in nearby community, a voice message saying, ” “I love you, Mom. I’m so sorry I can’t be there with you. I love you.”
Rimon was later seen looking gaunt and without her glasses in a video of hostages released by Hamas.
Ofelia Roitman
Argentine olah, Ofelia Roitman, 77, has been held in captivity since Hamas captured her from her home on Kibbutz Nir Oz, where Ofelia has lived for the last 38 years.
Early in the morning of October 7, as Hamas terrorists reached the Kibbutz, Ofelia contacted her family and told them what was happening at the kibbutz.
At 9:37 a.m., the family received their last text message from her: “Please send help, the Palestinians are here,” she wrote.
Marman-Leimberg family
Argentina-born Clara Marman, 62, and her partner Louis Har were hiding in their home’s safe room on October 7, together with Marman’s siblings Fernando Marman and Gabriela Leimberg, 59, and Gabriela’s daughter, Mia Leimberg, 17, attempting to keep the door to the safe room locked. They were captured and taken to Gaza by Hamas terrorists.
Clara was a retired kindergarten teacher.القسام يسلم أسيرة و معها كلبها .#غزة pic.twitter.com/39EunIAJXt
— ahmad.ibraa (@ahmadibraa47) November 28, 2023
Gabriela Leimberg is the director of Eyal’s Farm, an ecological ranch for autistic adults at Kibbutz Ramat Rachel in Jerusalem.
Gabriela and Mia were down South visiting their family on the kibbutz for the Simchat Torah festival.
The United States is deferring the removal of certain Lebanese citizens from the country, President Joe Biden said on Friday, citing humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon amid tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.
The deferred designation, which lasts 18 months, allows Lebanese citizens to remain in the country with the right to work, according to a memorandum Biden sent to the Department of Homeland Security.
“Humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon have significantly deteriorated due to tensions between Hezbollah and Israel,” Biden said in the memo.
“While I remain focused on de-escalating the situation and improving humanitarian conditions, many civilians remain in danger; therefore, I am directing the deferral of removal of certain Lebanese nationals who are present in the United States.”Increased attacks since Oct.7
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire since Hezbollah announced a “support front” with Palestinians shortly after its ally Hamas attacked southern Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, triggering Israel’s military assault in Gaza.
The fighting in Lebanon has killed more than 100 civilians and more than 300 Hezbollah fighters, according to a Reuters tally, and led to levels of destruction in Lebanese border towns and villages not seen since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.
On the Israeli side, 10 Israeli civilians, a foreign agricultural worker and 20 Israeli soldiers have been killed. Tens of thousands have been evacuated from both sides of the border.
Hezbollah is an Iran-backed terrorist group and the most powerful military and political force in Lebanon.
world news
Preparing for war: Haifa mayor describes city’s infrastructure changes tensions in North escalate
Haifa mayor Yona Yahav spoke this past Monday with Lior Rosenfeld on Radio North 104.5FM about the escalation of the war in the North and his entry into political office amidst the security situation.
Yahav began, “I cannot speak on behalf of the North as I don’t know exactly what’s happening there. No one updates me, as if we are not the largest and most important city in the North. Tomorrow, the Home Front Command is coming to see us for the first time, and we will see what they have to say. We are doing everything to ensure that the city itself and our residents are safe and know what to do in case, God forbid, missiles fall on us. They are more accurate than those in 2006.”
Yahav also discussed the city’s preparations for a war in the North.
“We are now changing the entire method of building public structures,” Yahav said. “We are preparing them for prolonged stays. The minimum will be four consecutive days in shelters and such buildings, which require preparation. For example, installing toilets, which we don’t have today, and we have given instructions to build them in places close to where new houses are being built. This has been fully understood, and developers have begun to understand that the talk about evacuation and reconstruction has undergone drastic changes in light of the security situation. For example, road width needs to be maintained for the sake of evacuating residents on these roads. These are things that were not considered until now and must now be taken into account.”
Yahav’s plans for the success of Haifa’s future
Yahav then discussed his appeal to the transportation minister to stop the Highway 23 Carmel Tunnels’ toll charge.
“We called on the transportation minister to stop the discrimination. Haifa and the North are always discriminated against compared to central Israel, and there’s no reason for this. There are huge tunnels dug in Jerusalem that do not cost residents any money to pass through. There’s no reason why the tunnels dug in Haifa should include a toll. I speak on behalf of Haifa residents, and we are preparing to petition if we do not receive an answer.”
Regarding his entry into his mayoral role about three months ago, Yahav said, “I found a completely ruined city. They destroyed the municipality, and it’s very difficult to move things around. I don’t understand how residents sat idly by and kept quiet. We are trying to go to government offices to fix relations, to get funds, to move projects to bring in fees – and we are doing all this in a short time.
“The ministers are acting openly and with the goodwill to help. I am now waiting for the money on the table. The casino building in Bat Galim will be a luxurious hotel on the Bat Galim seashore. This neighborhood will undergo a complete transformation and will be the most beautiful neighborhood in the country. It will also be the only neighborhood facing a recognized beach. We came to make a change, and we will succeed.”
In conclusion, he touched on the issue of wild boars: “You won’t be able to follow them because soon you won’t see them anymore.”
world news
‘Psychological operation’: Turkey condemns FM Katz social media post depicting toddler Erdogan
Turkey’s Foreign Affairs Ministry released a statement on Sunday condemning a social media post made by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, in which Katz presented Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan as a toddler on the lap of Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Katz, in a Sunday post on X, wrote “Erdogan @RTErdogan finances and arms terrorist organizations of Hamas to carry out attacks and murder against Israelis. The General Security Service captured a squad of students from Bir Zeit who were employed by the Hamas headquarters in Turkey to carry out murder attacks in Israel, through training and weapons and tens of thousands of dollars provided to them.
“Erdogan turned Turkey into a state that supports terrorism and subjects Turkey to the Iranian axis of evil in the name of extreme ideology and blatant anti-Semitism.”
Katz’s comments were made in reference to a recently thwarted terror attack planned by the student Hamas cell in Bir Zeit University, north of Ramallah. The attempted attack, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said, was directed by Hamas’s base in Turkey.ארדואן @RTErdogan מממן ומחמש ארגוני טרור של החמאס לביצוע פיגועים ורצח נגד ישראלים. שירות הביטחון הכללי לכד חוליית סטודנטים מביר זית שהופעלו ע”י מפקדת החמאס בטורקיה לביצוע פיגועי רצח בישראל, באמצעות אימונים ונשק ועשרות אלפי דולרים שסופקו להם.ארדואן הפך את טורקיה למדינה תומכת טרור… pic.twitter.com/R0SCjYdngN
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) July 21, 2024
Turkey condemns the social media post
The Turkish ministry responded “The Israeli Foreign Minister is trying to hide Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians behind a series of lies, slander and disrespect.
“Israel’s dirty propaganda targeting Türkiye and President Erdoğan, and psychological operation attempts will not bear fruit.
“The members of the Netanyahu Government, who have killed nearly forty thousand Palestinians in Gaza and are now trying to start a regional war in order to stay in power, will be tried in international courts and held accountable for their crimes.
“Türkiye will continue to speak the truth and defend the right of the Palestinian people to live in justice and peace.”
The ministry cited data provided by the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Additionally, Turkey has repeatedly asserted that it does not categorize Hamas as a terrorist organization – despite its western allies acknowledging it as such and its proven attacks on Israeli civilians.
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