🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 309, 2023 - August 10, 2024 🎗️

  

🎗️Day 309 that 115 of our hostages in Hamas captivity
**There is nothing more important than getting them home! NOTHING!**

“I’ve never met them,

But I miss them. 

I’ve never met them,

but I think of them every second. 

I’ve never met them,

but they are my family. 

BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!”

We were thrilled and overflown with emotions by the heroic military missions that brought back our loved ones these past few weeks.
But we know that it’s not possible to bring them all back that way. The only immediate way to bring them all back is to close a deal.

#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope

There is no victory until all of the hostages are home!

‎אין נצחון עד שכל החטופים בבית

Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements

*6:45am - north - rockets Malkia

*12:40pm - north - rockets Malkia
*5:25pm- north- rockets- Admit, Goren, Eilon, Arab Al Aramsha, Gordot Gagalil

*6:05pm- south- rockets - Kissufim 
*7:30pm - north - hostile aircraft - Golan Heights, Rosh Pina, Kfar Hanasi, Safed, Elipelet, Amiad, Minhat Machanaim

Hostage Updates 

• Why do Israelis see the new Hamas leader as even more extremist?
  
  Israelis have even less hope of reaching a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip after the appointment of Yahya Sinwar as the leader of the militant group Hamas. Israelis see him as an even more extremist figure than his predecessor.
  After the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, Israel launched the operation to kill all the leaders of the militant group. The one who managed to avoid assassination is Yahya Sinwar, the man who now leads the Islamic group. He is believed to be hiding underground in a tunnel in Gaza, using Israeli hostages as shields.
  "Today, Yahya Sinwari heads the political bureau and the military wing of Hamas. This is the first time that all the power falls into the hands of one person who is probably the most extremist in the group," says Gershon Baskin, a former negotiator for the release of the hostages.
  He does not expect any major changes in Hamas's position in the ceasefire negotiations that would end the war and allow the release of all hostages. He says that Sinwar is known as an extremist.
  "There is no question that he is an extremist, he is very religious, he has a distorted view of what Islam is. He believes that the most important duty in Islam is to be a martyr for Palestine ," says Mr. Baskin.
  Israel sentenced Sinwar to life in prison in 1989 for orchestrating an attack that killed two Israeli soldiers and for killing four Palestinians who were collaborating with Israel.
  He has spent more than 20 years in Israeli prisons, speaks fluent Hebrew and considers himself an expert on Israel. He was among more than a thousand Hamas prisoners released in 2011 in exchange for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
  Israeli officials say they are determined to kill him, as well as other Hamas leaders involved in the October 7 attacks that sparked the war.
  "The change in his position not only does not prevent us from pursuing him, but motivates us to make efforts to find him, target him and once again replace the head of the politburo," says Israeli Army Commander Herzl Halevi.
  On the streets of Gaza, opinion is divided over whether Sinwar's appointment will bring the two sides closer to a deal to end the 10-month war.
  "His appointment will prolong the war even more because the Israelis don't want him. They want a political figure who makes concessions. We heard that Sinwari is stubborn and may not accept concessions," says Bashir Qarqaz, a resident of Gaza.
  But others say Sinwar's appointment could make it easier to reach a deal with Israel.
  "We hope this will speed up the end of the war, because he lives inside Gaza and knows the negotiation process," said Hani al-Qano, another resident.
  After 10 months of war, civilians on both sides of the conflict say that regardless of who is in charge of Hamas, they just want the fighting to end. link
• Top security official tells TV network some hostages don’t have much time left
  

Source says it’s incorrect to think captives still in Gaza are in same fair condition as 4 rescued in June: ‘The argument that they are ”suffering but not dying” does not hold up’

Some of the hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza are presumed to be in serious condition and incapable of surviving much longer in captivity, a senior security official told Channel 12 Friday, as pressure increases on the government to accept a ceasefire-for-hostages deal with the terror group.

“We know that some of the hostages will not survive much longer in the conditions in which they are being held, and in light of their physical and mental health,” the senior official told the news station in a report aired Friday.

The source stressed that this was not an assessment or a guess, but a matter on which Israel had clear information. The thought that they are being held in relatively good conditions, like Noa Argamani and the hostages released in the [special forces] operation, is incorrect,” he added, referring to a rescue mission in June that saw four hostages released in notably good condition relative to having lived in captivity for eight months.

“And the argument that they are ‘suffering but not dying’ does not hold up to scrutiny,” the source continued, referring to commentsattributed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a cabinet meeting in July. Thirty-nine of the 111 hostages still held by Hamas after October 7 have been confirmed as dead by the IDF.

The anonymous comments come one day after the US, Egypt and Qatar — the mediators in hostage-ceasefire talks — put out a joint statement calling for a deal to be finalized without delay.

“It is time to bring immediate relief both to the long-suffering people of Gaza as well as the long-suffering hostages and their families. The time has come to conclude the ceasefire and hostages and detainees release deal,” said the statement published by Qatari state media. According to the statement, after working “tirelessly” for months, the mediators are ready to present Israel and Hamas with a final proposal, with only the details for implementing the agreement yet to be worked out.

“As mediators, if necessary, we are prepared to present a final bridging proposal that resolves the remaining implementation issues in a manner that meets the expectations of all parties,” said the statement, which was signed by US President Joe Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

They called on Israel and Hamas to restart talks in Cairo or Doha on August 15 to seal the final details and begin implementing the deal “without further delay.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office later put out a statement saying, “Following the proposal of the US and the mediators, Israel will send the negotiating delegation on August 15 to the location decided upon in order to finalize the details for the implementation of the framework agreement.”

The proposed deal envisions three stages. During the first stage, to last six weeks, Hamas would free all the women hostages, including soldiers, in addition to men over the age of 50 and ill and wounded civilians. In return, Israel would release hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners it is holding. A lull in fighting would also begin.

During that phase, indirect negotiations would start over details of the exchange that would take place in the second phase, when soldiers and remaining men would be released, also in return for Palestinian prisoners. The ceasefire is to continue during negotiations. In the second phase, Israel would withdraw from the Gaza Strip and a permanent end to hostilities would be announced. The third stage deals with Hamas releasing the remains of deceased hostages and the rebuilding of Gaza.

A key sticking point has been Hamas’s desire to see the deal bring an end to the war, while Israel demands the right to return to fighting after the first stage if need be.

“If you want to go for a partial deal, there is no problem to resume fighting with all strength after the 42 days of the first stage,” a senior security official has told Israeli political leaders, according to Channel 12 news, while also arguing “the Israel public does not understand the size of the blow that Hamas took.”

“Besides [Yahya] Sinwar, almost all of the military leadership from [Muhammad] Deif to [Marwan] Issa, through the brigade and battalion commanders, no longer exists,” the official reportedly added.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right member of the security cabinet, put out a statement opposing the proposed deal.

“It’s really not the time for a dangerous trap that sees the ‘mediators’ dictate to us a ‘formula’ and force upon us a deal of surrender that will flush down the drain the blood we have spilled in this most just war we are waging,” he said. Smotrich added that the deal would “leave Hezbollah on the fences of northern residents and grant a prize to terror and the Iranian attacks against us” and “severely erode Israeli deterrence and its reputation in the Middle East, portraying it as a weak protectorate state and driving away its friends in the moderate Arab countries that signed peace agreements with it out of respect for its strength and independence.

“I call on the prime minister not to fall for this trap and to not agree to even the slightest movement from the red lines he set very recently, even though they are also very problematic.”

Last month, Netanyahu declared four “non-negotiables”: any potential deal must prevent weapons from being smuggled into Gaza from Egypt; allow Israel to resume fighting until all the goals of the war are achieved; prevent the return of thousands of armed terrorists to the north of the Gaza Strip; and maximize the number of living hostages Hamas turns over.

During the October 7 massacres, which saw Hamas kill some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, the terrorists also kidnapped 251 individuals.

It is believed that 111 of those abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014. Link  It is way past time for Netanyahu to ignore the racist Smotrich, who doesn't give a damn about the hostages, and to make a deal. Netanyahu also doesn't put much value to their lives as he has and still is willing to sacrifice every single one for the benefit of staying prime minister. But we, as a country cannot afford to let that happen. Our healing cannot begin to happen until the hostages are brought home, the live ones to their families and the dead to be buried.

• A group of hostage families give their weekly press conference in Tel Aviv, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a deal to free their loved ones held in Gaza at an upcoming round of negotiations on Thursday in Cairo.
  
  
  

“In what world does a prime minister keep civilians and soldiers who he abandoned to rot in captivity for 10 months?” Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held in Gaza, asks.

“In what world does Netanyahu make criminal political calculations for ‘timing’ and how [Bezalel] Smotrich and [Itamar] Ben Gvir will react, at the expense of lives?” she says, accusing the premier of gambling with the lives of hostages to ensure his government survives.

“If Netanyahu continues to drag his feet, if he doesn’t close a deal now that includes the release of everyone, we will receive only bodies in return, if any. Netanyahu wants to extend the war to extend the life of his government. He is ready to drag us to an escalation instead of reaching a deal that saves lives and prevents an escalation,” she says, urging Israeli negotiators to demand the prime minister agree to a deal.

Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held hostage, says the current opportunity to reach a deal may be the last.

“According to media reports, Israel agreed to come to a summit this Thursday. We have experience from summits and conferences that all ended the same. The mediators came up with solutions, but Netanyahu repeatedly botched the deal.”

Gaza 

•  US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says the Biden administration will not allow “extremists,” including in Israel, to push Gaza ceasefire talks off course.

He also accuses Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of making false claims, saying his claim the fighting could continue indefinitely was “dead wrong,” and misleading the Israeli public.

Smotrich announced his opposition to a ceasefire deal earlier in the day, saying the US and other international allies were pushing Israel into “a trap.”

He also says the US has received assurances from Qatar that Hamas will be represented when talks resume in Cairo or Doha on August 15.

• Hamas and security sources told Reuters an airstrike in Lebanon eliminated Samer al-Hajj and Ain al-Hilweh.

An Israeli airstrike on a car deep inside Lebanon killed a senior Hamas commander on Friday evening, the IDF, Hamas, and security sources reported. 

The strike, on the southern edges of the Lebanese port city of Sidon, some 60 kilometers (nearly 40 miles) from the frontier, killed Samer Mahmoud al-Haj, a Hamas security official who works in the nearby refugee camp for Palestinians, Ain al-Hilweh. His bodyguard was critically wounded, the three sources said. Al-Haj was responsible for directing attacks against Israel, the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) reported in a joint statement. He was also reportedly the commander of Hamas forces in Ain al-Hilweh and was responsible for recruiting and training more terrorists there. 

Eliminating terrorists in Lebanon

The IDF has been carrying out strikes against members of Hamas, allied Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, and other factions in Lebanon over the last 10 months, in parallel with the Gaza war. Those armed groups have launched rockets, drones, and artillery attacks across the border into northern Israel. Full article

• The IDF announced that it killed senior Hamas commander Walid al-Sousi in Gaza on Friday night. 
  Al-Sousi was head of Hamas's General Security Apparatus in the Southern Gaza Strip. He was involved in managing intelligence and crushing resistance to the regime. He was eliminated by Israel Air Force jets and the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate. Additionally, Paratrooper Brigade combat teams conducted raids in southern Gaza on targets.  
  During the raids, the IDF killed dozens of terrorists and destroyed terrorist infrastructure. Furthermore, in the area of Rafah, Nahal Brigade troops killed several terrorists and discovered weapons in several residential houses. 
  Aircrafts attacked terrorists who were spotted spying on IDF soldiers in the field and posed a threat to the forces. 

• The Israel Defense Forces on Friday morning confirmed launching a new ground operation in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, following what it said was “intelligence indicating the presence of terrorists and terror infrastructure in the area.”

  A day earlier, the military told Palestinians in the Khan Younis area to evacuate to an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone, ahead of renewed operations there. Palestinian media on Thursday afternoon reported that the IDF had begun new ground operations in Khan Younis.

  In early July, the IDF ordered Palestinians in eastern Khan Younis to evacuate, before carrying out an operation there. The military withdrew after eight days. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, published a list of the zones that needed to be evacuated alongside the latest announcement, which include the Khan Younis suburbs of al-Qarara and Bani Suheila, the Abasan neighborhoods, the town of Khuza’a.

  Adraee warned that the military would “forcefully operate” against terror groups in the area. Some 1.9 million Palestinians of the 2.3 million Gazan population are currently in the humanitarian zone, located in the al-Mawasi area on the Strip’s coast, western neighborhoods of Khan Younis, and central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah. The new offensive was aimed at preventing terror groups in the Gaza Strip from regrouping, the IDF said in a statement.

  Israel has increasingly been carrying out pinpoint operations in Gaza in the ongoing war against Hamas, sparked by the terror group’s brutal October 7 onslaught in southern Israel that saw 1,200 people murdered and 251 taken hostage.

  The latest operation in Khan Younis was being carried out by the 98th Division, which withdrew from the city in southern Gaza for the second time just last month, following an operation there that lasted just over a week. The division previously operated in Khan Younis for four months earlier this year.

  It was the 98th Division’s first major operation with its new commander, Brig. Gen. Guy Levy, who replaced Brig. Gen Dan Goldfus last week. Goldfus will soon be promoted to major general and head the IDF’s Northern Corps and Maneuver Array.

  The IDF said the division’s troops were battling Hamas above and below ground while locating weapons and infrastructure. More than 30 airstrikes were carried out in Khan Younis as ground forces pushed into the city in southern Gaza over the past day, the IDF said on Friday.

  The targets included weapon depots and Hamas staging ground, along with several operatives, including snipers and mortar launching squads, according to the IDF.

  Meanwhile, early on Friday morning, one rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip at the Ashkelon area.

  The IDF said the rocket was successfully intercepted by the Iron Dome, and there were no injuries reported.

  Also Friday, the IDF announced that an officer in the Nahal Brigade’s Reconnaissance Unit was hospitalized after being seriously wounded during fighting a day earlier in the southern Gaza Strip,

  The officer was hit by anti-tank missile fire in the Rafah area. Also in Rafah, the IDF said Friday morning that troops with the 162nd Division killed dozens of gunmen by calling in airstrikes, tank shelling, using sniper fire, and in close-quarters combat in the city in southern Gaza over the past day.

  On Thursday, the IDF said that it uncovered and destroyed several rocket launchers in Rafah, near the Egyptian border, and adjacent to the Strip’s largest fuel depot.

  The IDF said that there was no harm to the fuel depot in the operation to demolish the launchers, which troops of the 605th Combat Engineering Battalion carried out the previous night.

  “Any damage to the facility, including rocket fire from these nearby launch pits, could endanger the lives of tens of thousands of Gazan citizens in the surrounding areas. This is a further example of the systematic abuse of civilian and humanitarian infrastructure by the terror organizations in Gaza,” the IDF said. In Gaza City, the IDF said Thursday that it carried out airstrikes against Hamas command and control centers embedded within two schools.

  According to the IDF, Hamas operatives were gathered at the Abdel Fattah Hamoud and al-Zahraa schools, in Gaza City’s Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods, when the strikes were carried out.

  Palestinian media said that at least five were killed at the Abdel Fattah Hamoud School and another seven were killed at the al-Zahraa School.

  The school compounds were used as command and control centers for terrorists and commanders in the Hamas terror organization,” from which they planned and carried out attacks against troops in Gaza and against Israel, the military said.

  To mitigate harm to civilians, the IDF said it carried out “many steps,” including using aerial surveillance, “precision munitions,” and other intelligence. Meanwhile, in the Netzarim Corridor in the central Gaza Strip, reservists with the 252nd Division killed “many” more gunmen and demolished sites used by terror groups in the past day, the IDF said.

  Across the Strip, the IDF said Friday that it struck more than 60 targets in the past day, including buildings used by terror groups and caches of weapons. LinkThe Israel Defense Forces said Saturday it struck a command room that terror operatives set up at a school in Gaza City where Palestinian civilians were sheltering.

The Gaza Strip’s Hamas-run civil defense agency said over 90 people were killed in the airstrike, describing the incident as a “horrific massacre.” The IDF expressed heavy skepticism toward the claim, saying the numbers appeared to have been inflated.

The IDF said that according to its intelligence, at least 20 terror operatives, including “senior commanders,” were at the site when it was struck.

Fadel Naeem, director of the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, told The Associated Press that the facility received 70 bodies of those killed in the strike and the body parts of at least 10 others. The Hamas-rung health ministry said another 47 people were wounded.

Naeem said some of the wounded had severe burns and many had to have limbs amputated. “We received some of the most serious injuries we encountered during the war,” he said.

Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for the Hamas-run Palestinian Civil Defense, said in a televised news conference: “So far, there are more than 93 martyrs, including 11 children and six women. There are unidentified remains.”

Hamas had initially put the death count at over 100 but appeared to revise it down.

The military disputed claims that more than 90 Palestinians were killed in the strike. “According to a preliminary examination, the numbers published by the government media office in Gaza — which acts as a media arm of Hamas — are exaggerated and do not match the information available in the IDF, the precise munitions used, and the accuracy of the strike,” the IDF said.

• The army said it had struck an “active” Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad command room embedded within a mosque in the al-Taba’een school complex, in Gaza City’s Daraj neighborhood. It said the site was used by the terror operatives as a hideout and to plan and carry out attacks against IDF troops in Gaza and against Israel.

To mitigate harm to civilians in the strike, the IDF said it carried out “many steps,” including using aerial surveillance, “precision munitions,” and other intelligence.

It also accused Hamas of “systematically [violating] international law and [operating] from within civilian shelters, brutally exploiting the civilian population and institutions as human shields for their terror activities.”

The Hamas media office said the strikes hit when people sheltering at the school were performing dawn prayers, leading to the high casualty count.

The terror group claimed in a statement that “there were no militants” in the school when it was struck by the IDF. It falsely claimed that its fighters and members of other armed groups follow a “strict policy” of not being present among civilians.

According to military assessments, Hamas operatives are struggling to remain inside tunnels as the long war drags on and are therefore increasingly moving to above-ground sites, while hiding among innocents.

The IDF also said two days ago that it had struck Hamas command and control centers in schools in the Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods. On Monday it said the commander of Hamas’s Sheikh Radwan Battalion was killed in an airstrike at a school in Gaza City.

Many shuttered schools have been used as shelters for displaced Palestinians amid the war, but Israel says Hamas regularly uses the sites to run its operations and hide from the IDF. It says it takes steps to ensure its strikes on such sites are precisely targeting the combatants and to limit harm to civilians.

On Friday morning, the IDF launched a new ground operation in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, following what it said was “intelligence indicating the presence of terrorists and terror infrastructure in the area.”

A day earlier, the military told Palestinians in the Khan Younis area to evacuate to an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone, ahead of renewed operations there.

Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, warned that the military would “forcefully operate” against terror groups in the area.

• Some 1.9 million Palestinians of the 2.3 million Gazan population are currently in the humanitarian zone, located in the al-Mawasi area on the Strip’s coast, western neighborhoods of Khan Younis, and central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah.

The new offensive was aimed at preventing terror groups in the Gaza Strip from regrouping, the IDF said in a statement.

Israel has increasingly been carrying out pinpoint operations in Gaza in the ongoing war against Hamas, sparked by the terror group’s brutal October 7 onslaught in southern Israel that saw 1,200 people murdered and 251 taken hostage.

Israel has vowed to destroy the Palestinian group in retaliation for its October 7 attack, but agreed to resume talks next week for a ceasefire-for-hostages deal following intense diplomacy aimed at averting a region-wide conflagration.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 39,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle and some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 331.  Link

Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria

• Hezbollah rocket launchers primed for an attack on northern Israel were struck by Israeli fighter jets a short while ago, the IDF says. The strike occurred in the southern Lebanon village of Kfarhamam,

  
  

  The military adds that other Hezbollah infrastructure was struck in Ayta ash-Shab, Markaba, Mhaibib, and Kafr Kila.  Video
  
  

• Israeli fighter jets are reportedly flying over the Lebanese capital of Beirut, causing sonic booms. There is no immediate comment from the IDF. In recent weeks, there have been several reports of Israeli fighter jets flying over Beirut.

• Supersonic booms over Beirut, panic in Dahieh: "45,000 displaced, no movement in the streets"

  "Everything froze": Fighter jets again broke the sound barrier in a message to Hezbollah, while criticism of the organization grows - as does the mass exodus from its stronghold. The Arabic-language Independent reported that apartment owners are afraid to rent to those identified with Hezbollah, fearing they will bring destruction; and in one town where residents fled, there are cases of more than 20 people in one home. Criticism of the terror organization is growing

  More than ten days have passed since the dramatic assassinations of Fouad Shukr in Beirut and Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and while in Israel there is already some indifference to the threats of retaliation - it seems that residents in Lebanon and Iran are still afraid of what's to come. For example, amid reports of the Iranian president's fear of harsh action by the Revolutionary Guards against Israel, extensive reports were published today (Saturday) in Lebanon about the panic in Dahieh, Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut.

  In recent days, Air Force fighter jets have repeatedly and intentionally broken the sound barrier over Beirut - in a kind of message to Hezbollah and residents that in case of a mistake, the IDF can easily wreak havoc in the area. This afternoon the Air Force did it again, and residents in Lebanon posted videos of Israeli fighter jets breaking the sound barrier.

  Evidence of concern among Beirut residents can also be seen in Arab media. In the Arabic-language Independent, for example, an article was published today by Lebanese journalist Tony Boulos, who wrote that Shukr's assassination put Beirut's Dahieh residents into anxiety and fear. After thinking Beirut would not be included in the target bank, he wrote, things changed completely and fears rose - especially since Dahieh is Hezbollah's main stronghold, where the organization's institutions and political and security leaders are located.

  Boulos wrote that unlike Israeli evacuees who receive government assistance, in Lebanon citizens do not receive aid from the state or Hezbollah - and are using their savings. This, he added, arouses their anger. According to him, the "displacement crisis" from Beirut - which caused a surge in rental prices in towns outside it - exposed the division in Lebanese society. He emphasized that apartment owners are afraid to rent homes to evacuees who may belong to Hezbollah, fearing they will endanger the area they move to.

  The mayor of Aley in Lebanon, Wajdi Murad, said in the Independent article that the town has filled up with evacuees from Dahieh and southern Lebanon. According to him, apartment owners do not allow more than one family to enter each house, but there has already been a case where an owner discovered his house was full with more than 20 people. A researcher quoted in the article said that in addition to more than 120,000 displaced from southern Lebanon, about 45,000 citizens evacuated from Dahieh within days - and housing prices are rising accordingly. 

  The article also mentioned Lebanese dissatisfaction with Hezbollah. It was written that this is reflected in the treatment of the displaced, who are considered Hezbollah's nurturing environment. In 2006, it was written, Hezbollah was seen as an organization that constituted resistance to Israel - but now it is seen as a kind of army identified with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, whose wars are related to regional rather than national considerations. It was written that many see Hezbollah as responsible for political and economic crises and for undermining the justice system in Lebanon, and see it as the one making decisions and controlling institutions.

  "It's not the same Dahieh"

  Al-Akhbar, which is identified with Hezbollah, wrote, among other things, that in recent days Dahieh "entered a war before it even started." Residents in the neighborhood returned to the emergency plans they prepared at the beginning of the war, before the dynamics that developed during the days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah taught them that Dahieh would remain out of range.

  Al-Akhbar noted that many have already left the area, and a tour shows that "it's not the same Dahieh," and movement in the streets has greatly reduced. The war atmosphere, described in the article, is also felt in the markets - and everything has frozen. Residents buy basic things and return home. One seller replied to a buyer who asked when he would get him merchandise, with a simple answer: "After the war." In addition, the article noted, there is no certainty that the school year will open as usual.

  And while rental prices outside Beirut have soared, it was reported that there are many residents who spend the day in Dahieh - but sleep outside the neighborhood. Alongside them, many residents simply left the area, and others prepared bags in case of escalation. For example, a sports club in Haret Hreik, where Shukr's assassination took place, closed its doors after the owner left for Baalbek - where attacks are aimed at open areas and houses and not buildings, and from where it's also possible to cross into Syria. However, many others have no money to leave because of the high rents now charged by apartment owners outside the Lebanese capital.

  Restaurants, according to reports in Lebanon, remained open - but in a significant portion of places there is a noticeable decrease in the number of customers. There are restaurants that claim there is no decrease in customers, attributing this to women no longer cooking due to fear of war and people not going out shopping.  link

West Bank and Jerusalem and Terror attacks within Israel

•   Settlers assault Arab Israelis, torch car after they accidentally enter W. Bank outpost

Four women and toddler pelted with rocks after making wrong turn; they say one attacker put a gun to the child’s head; they fled on foot to reach safety with soldiers:

Five Arab Israelis, including a three-year-old, were attacked and their car was set on fire Friday after they accidentally drove into an illegal West Bank outpost.

The incident occurred at Givat Ronen, a small hilltop outpost in the northern West Bank near the village of Burin, an area that has seen repeated clashes between extremist settlers and Palestinians. Israeli settlers are suspected of carrying out the attack.

The car was carrying four women as well as a three-year-old girl, according to Hebrew media reports. According to Kan news, the five are Bedouin residents of the Arab town of Rahat in southern Israel and were on their way to the Palestinian city of Nablus.

Two of the passengers were injured in their heads and hands by stones thrown at them. They fled on foot and managed to make it to Israeli troops, who treated them.

“Two of the travelers in the car were injured and Israeli troops gave them first aid at the scene and they were later taken to a hospital for treatment,” police said in a statement.

The five were taken to Beilinson Medical Center in Petah Tikva. link More criminal activity by the extremist settlers against Arabs, this time Israel citizens. And I sincerely doubt that any of the criminals will be arrested or even questioned under the police with a racist cirimal minister.  

Politics and the War (general news) 

• US slams Smotrich for opposing Gaza ceasefire deal: ‘Jeopardizing’ the hostages

  In unusually blunt remarks, White House national security spokesman John Kirby says far-right minister should be ‘ashamed of himself’ after he denounced proposal as ‘dangerous trap’

  The Biden administration will not allow “extremists,” including in Israel, to push Gaza ceasefire-hostage talks off course, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday and accused Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of making false claims.

  Kirby said that Smotrich’s claims that a ceasefire deal would be a surrender to Hamas or that hostages should not be exchanged for prisoners are “dead wrong,” and said the far-right minister was misleading the Israeli public.

  Kirby added that Smotrich “ought to be ashamed” for questioning the intentions of US President Joe Biden, saying “The idea that [Biden] would support a deal that leaves Israel’s security at risk is just factually wrong, it’s outrageous, it’s absurd.”

  Kirby accused Smotrich of “jeopardizing” Israeli and US hostages who stand to be freed under the deal, in a position that “flies in the face of the national security interests of Israel at this critical stage of the war.”

  “He’s saying this as President Biden is actually directing the United States military to the Middle East to directly defend Israel against a potential attack by Iran or other Iranian-backed terrorist groups,” Kirby said.

  The United States and its allies have been trying to arrange a ceasefire-for-hostages deal for months but have consistently run into obstacles from both Israel and Hamas.

  US officials believed the latest proposal is the closest the parties have been to an agreement to free women, sick and elderly hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7 in exchange for at least six weeks of ceasefire, the first phase in an envisioned three-stage deal for ending the war.

  “We want to get a deal. We believe that it’s possible to do that … But it’s going to require some leadership on all sides here and some compromises,” Kirby told reporters.

  Leaders of the United States, Egypt and Qatar on Thursday called on Israel and Hamas to meet for negotiations on August 15 to finalize a Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal.

  Smotrich denounced the proposal as creating a “delusional symmetry” between Israeli hostages and “despicable Jew-murdering terrorists” who would be freed.

  “It is absolutely not the time for a dangerous trap where the ‘mediators’ dictate a ‘formula’ and impose a capitulating deal on us, which would squander the blood we shed in this most just war,” he said.

  “His arguments are dead wrong,” Kirby responded.

  While the criticism by the United States, Israel’s top ally, was unusually strong, Smotrich has frequently stirred international outrage with his remarks.

  Earlier this week, he said it would be “justified and moral” to starve to death two million Gazans to free hostages but complained that the world would not let Israel do so. link 

  
  
• Netanyahu has been asked to take responsibility for the security failing on Oct. 7 multiple times - which is why his apology published by Time magazine was so frustrating.

Since October 7, Israelis have demanded that those in power take responsibility for the massacre and subsequent war. So far, apologies and admissions of wrongdoing have already come in from several figures, particularly among the security forces. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, is another story. He has been asked on multiple occasions to take responsibility for the 1,200 people murdered on Israeli soil, the hundreds taken hostage, and the residents of the North and South being forced to evacuate from their homes. The closest thing he has done was to shift blame. Not only that, but he has refused to speak with any Israeli media outlet aside from Channel 14, long considered to be Netanyahu mouthpiece. This is what made his exclusive interview with Time magazine, which was published on Thursday, so noteworthy and frustrating. 

The article quickly begins with whether Netanyahu would apologize for October 7. His response? “Of course, of course. I am sorry, deeply, that something like this happened.” 

This is the closest we have gotten to an actual apology from the prime minister, and it is as empty as ever. Netanyahu has a reputation for eschewing interviews with Israeli media outlets, especially during the ongoing war. 

The fact that this apology was given in English to a foreign news outlet rather than in Hebrew to his Israeli Hebrew-speaking constituents comes off as detached at best and condescending at worst. 

In his recent speech to Congress, Netanyahu presented an image of unity, of an Israel bound together in the fight against Hamas and to free the hostages. “Israel will fight until we destroy Hamas’s military capabilities and its rule in Gaza and bring all our hostages home,” he said. “That’s what total victory means. And we will settle for nothing less.” But Israel is far from united. Protests continue to be held regularly, with all talk of a hostage deal still virtually ground to a halt, paralyzed by political tensions as the prime minister fights to stay in power by any means. 

Israel needs unity in these dark and trying times. But instead of trying to foster a means of building bridges in his fractured society, Netanyahu projects the illusion of unity, the grand lie of “together we will win.” 

As in most of his international appearances, Netanyahu’s speech was excellent. He took time to praise IDF soldiers, acknowledge the hardships experienced by the hostages and their families, and propose a bold “Abraham Alliance” against Iran. He also spoke of the diversity within Israeli society. 

The speech was met with a standing ovation, a testament to the prime minister’s skill as a captivating speaker – but why couldn’t he say it in Hebrew? 

Concerned over image, not the Israeli public

Prioritizing English over Hebrew is nothing new for Netanyahu, who has often wanted to reinforce the image that only he can talk to the US, that only he can keep Israel safe. When he does address Israel in Hebrew, it is in speeches at the Knesset or the Prime Minister’s Office. This doesn’t seem like an accident – in a speech, Netanyahu gets to say exactly what he wants to say and control the narrative. In an interview, he would have to face and respond to uncomfortable questions rather than write the script himself. 

Instead of asking for forgiveness from Israelis, Israel received an interview not in the official language of the country Netanyahu is in charge of, which only offered an apology in the barest sense of the word. It was the equivalent of saying, “I’m sorry you feel that way,” blaming the victim rather than the one responsible. And even then, during the Time interview, he still went out of his way to shift blame. 

He blamed the judicial reform protesters for weakening Israel ahead of October 7. He even blamed his security cabinet for pressuring him not to launch a full-scale war against Hamas. 

A recent Channel 12 poll showing over 70% of Israelis want Netanyahu to resign is a damning indictment of how betrayed the public feels. 

The majority of Israelis are fed up with a prime minister who refuses to take responsibility for October 7 and won’t even speak in their native language to their news outlets. Netanyahu’s Time interview is a false apology and a sign that he won’t face up to his public. It’s time he addresses the public in their language and finally answers his constituents’ questions. Link

• 
  
  

The Region and the World

• Oil tanker reports double attack off Yemen, crew safe

Two small craft that fired a rocket-propelled grenade which exploded near Delta Blue vessel, then targeted by a missile amid continued Houthi strikes on shipping

The captain of the Delta Blue crude oil tanker reported a double attack on the vessel off Yemen, with its crew reported safe, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said in an advisory note on Thursday.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident, but Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have been attacking ships in the busy Red Sea corridor since November, a month after the war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 thousands-strong assault on southern Israel that saw nearly 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage.

The first attack on Thursday was carried out by two small craft that fired a rocket-propelled grenade which exploded near Delta Blue, 45 nautical miles south of Yemen’s Mokha, UKMTO said.  Hours later, another missile exploded in close proximity to the tanker, UKMTO said.

The Liberia-flagged Delta Blue and its crew were safe, and the ship was proceeding to its next port of call, UKMTO said. Full article

Personal Stories

Ten months have passed since Ilana Gritzewsky was kidnapped along with her partner Matan Zangauker from Nir Oz. They were held separately in Gaza - and only she returned home. Since then she has been silent, but now she tells Ido Solomon for the first time about the difficult days, about the hostages she saw there in the tunnels in captivity who still haven't returned - and also about the moment when her guard told her that Matan, her love, was right next to her in the tunnel - and what happened after she begged tearfully to meet him.

"From captivity I'm still a bit shaky, and it really bothered my captors," says Ilana Gritzewsky, who was released from Hamas captivity, as her legs move nervously.

**What did they say?**

"That it bothers his eye, 'stop, it's bothering me', they would get very upset about it. I was afraid that in the end they would hit me or do something to me because of the shaking."

"I brought the pillow with Matan's scent from Nir Oz"

Ilana lights a cigarette in the apartment where she now lives in Kiryat Gat, together with evacuees from Nir Oz.

**What did you do with cigarettes in captivity?**

"Let's just say it wasn't one of the main concerns on my mind. Sometimes I would say 'wow I want a cigarette', but then you look or see the terrorist. I said 'okay I'll focus on what's more important'."

**And how long after you returned to Israel was your first cigarette?**

"Right when I met the first soldiers, at the border crossing, the first thing I said was - 'who has a cigarette?'", she laughs.

On her door hangs a picture of Matan Zangauker, her partner, who is still being held by Hamas in Gaza for over 300 days.

**You've been here almost half a year, how much do you feel at home here already?**

"Not home, but for now it's my safe and quiet place."

**What did you bring from your old life to help you feel at home?**

"I brought the love tree that survived in Nir Oz. My hamsa. Matan's hamsa. And our pillow, Matan's and mine that still has the blanket from October 7th, and I just loaded his shirt onto it, because his scent remained in the shirt. I also have the candle I light instead of a goodnight kiss, so it's a 'goodnight candle' and here," she continues to show, "this is a good morning candle. Instead of a good morning kiss, there's a good morning candle," she says and tears flood her eyes.

"Actually I don't want to be with anyone, I just want to start the morning with him. And I don't have, it's not like I have someone else, I only had him, that's what I had," she cries.

"I thought there was security here, it exploded in my face"

Ilana Gritzewsky is 31 years old. She grew up in Mexico, her parents divorced in her childhood and she grew up with her mother and older brother. At 16, after one visit to Israel, she decided to immigrate alone. Later she enlisted in the army and served as an ambulance driver.

"I fell in love with the people, the country, the security that was there, that I thought was there, something I didn't have in Mexico," she recounts. "Mexico is third place, I think, in the world in trafficking of women and children. And in the end I was kidnapped in my home. The whole bubble burst for me. It simply collapsed, along with my life, everything collapsed for me."

"This is the hat," she continues showing items in the house. "We also took this out of Nir Oz - Matan's hat, and I wear the hat every time to feel like he's with me - and it comes with me everywhere."

How often do you make this journey to Nir Oz? I ask her as we drive to the kibbutz. "At least once a week I come," she answers. "It's still the place that feels like home to me. It's also the closest place to Matan - actually I hope there isn't some Nukhba hiding here in the bushes, that will suddenly come out. But it's part of the way to overcome the fears, and I'm not going to live in fear."

This is Matan's hat.

"Every time I come to Nir Oz I light candles"

She moved to Nir Oz about two and a half years ago, after starting to work as a greenhouse manager at Cando company. That's also where she met Matan.

"These are the greenhouses, and here Matan used to work," she points from inside the car as we drive in Nir Oz.

"Every time I come I light candles," she says as she enters their house in Nir Oz, and blesses in a broken voice: "May it be Your will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, that You strengthen and protect and save our brothers of the house of Israel who are captive and captives, for we pray for them. For the merit and health and quick return of Matan Zangauker son of Einav and all the hostages. Amen."

"To give them strength," she explains, "that they have a little light in the darkness they're going through, that they understand we are indeed fighting to bring them back - it's also for me, to connect with Matan. That he feels, maybe he really feels, maybe he's thinking of me now and getting stronger."

She writes on the wall: "I'm not giving up. You'll be home soon. We're all waiting for you." And she explains: "I try every time to also write to him, so that even more strength reaches him."

Ilana writes a message to Matan in their home in Nir Oz

"5 terrorists pointing guns and grenades at me"

On Saturday October 7th, Ilana was in this house in Nir Oz with Matan. When the sirens started they locked themselves in the safe room. But very quickly - gunshots started inside the kibbutz, and Arabic voices getting closer to the house. When the terrorists try to break down the safe room door, Ilana and Matan decide to escape through the window and jump outside.

When the terrorists reached the safe room, they jumped from the window (Ilana and Matan)

Ilana retraces their escape route. "We ran to the tree here," she says. "When I got here I could already see all the Nukhbas. Simply all of Gaza inside my whole kibbutz, all of Hamas. Here I already froze, because I realized it was really over. And Matan ran in that direction," she points. "And I just couldn't run after him anymore. I just watched him go."

"I turned around and just took the blanket that was here, and came here, and just crouched down. I threw the blanket over myself, and then slowly, I heard how they were closing in on me. I hear this noise simply getting closer to me. Each time gently, from there and here," she says crying. "Until there was already a shot and a grenade, they pulled me."

"They simply dragged me, to here," she shows. "And then they threw me here. One is holding me, and about five more are pointing guns and grenades, RPGs at me. So I said, that's it. They're going to kill me, rape me. Because they also wanted me to open the camera for them. So I said 'that's it they're going to do it live too. They're going to rape me or kill me live. And this is what's going to be in my mom's head, this image.' So I just froze. I raised my hands, told them, I'm from Mexico and everything, I spoke in English: 'I'm from Mexico. I'll do whatever you want, don't kill me, don't rape me'. And then they simply brought me a gun barrel."

"There is a candle 'good morning' in place of a good morning kiss. Picture of Matan in Ilana's house

"At some point I fainted on the motorcycle"

A motorcycle was already waiting for her on the path next to the house - in security camera footage you see her sitting in pajamas and socks covered in a blanket, with two armed Hamas members in front and behind her. That's how she crossed the border towards Khan Yunis.

"On the way all of Gaza around me," she recounts. "I'm getting hit from right, left, on the head, leg, they pull me, burn my leg, drag my leg on the floor so I also got burns on my toes, and then at some point I simply lost consciousness and fainted on the motorcycle."

"I woke up when I was in some ruined place," she recalls. "They simply sprayed perfume in my nose, slapped my face, water, as I'm lying on stones, about twenty Hamas members standing over me, and then they simply pulled me and lifted me and loaded me into a vehicle where three Nukhbas sit in front three in back. They start driving and tell me 'welcome to Gaza' as we're like in the middle of Khan Yunis, passing through the street, and all the civilians see you, look at you, like you're a prize.

"We entered some house, a room, full of Kalashnikovs, grenades, weapons, Nukhbas, some commander. And then when I entered, they all just folded over me. There was one who simply grabbed me and told me: 'From here you're not leaving anymore, you're my wife, we're going to have children, we're here, this is your new family'. And then I was left with my two regular guards, and both of them watching me all night."

**Were you able to sleep?**

"No, to this day."

**To this day you don't sleep?**

"No."

**And what happens in the morning?**

"They wake up around 4:30 from the mosque, and it's simply sitting on the couch without moving. And they're looking at you and then towards noon they brought another hostage. And then we started talking, and then I realized she's also from Nir Oz."

**That was Liat Atzili.**

"Yes. She became my partner, in fate."

**How do you pass the time there?**

"Time doesn't pass. And I also barely slept an hour, two hours. But we had a little dominoes, snakes and ladders. With the snakes and ladders board, it was my calendar to know what day we're on. I would simply count each day, so I knew."

Liat Atzili was the partner of my fate

**Was there communication with the captors?**

"Liat somehow started talking more. I always kept my distance. I was afraid. I know that... at any moment they can go crazy and shoot me. But slowly I somehow managed. Because I said I have to win them over. One said he's a math teacher, the other said he's a lawyer. Liat would talk to them about the Holocaust, about wars. I didn't. The moment he tells me he's keeping the key to his house from '48, I have no one to talk to. There are mornings you wake up, and you see it's a day you're not allowed to talk, not allowed to breathe. Don't utter a word from your mouth. Today they're not in the mood to talk."

**How do you see they're not in the mood to talk?**

"He had an angry face. And that's how I knew it was a day not to talk, something happened."

**When he was angry how did it manifest towards you?**

"That there's no bathroom or no water or no food or you can't get up. There was some point where I also had no strength, because there was also no food, I was throwing up all day, I fainted on them."

"They wake you up at 2am for interrogation"

Most of the time those two terrorists guarded Ilana and Liat - but occasionally they "merited" visits from more senior Hamas ranks. "Every time someone comes, knocks on the door or someone comes and does an interrogation. They wake you at 2am for interrogation," she recounts.

**What did they interrogate you about?**

"If I'm not a soldier, what I did in the army, what I know. If one of our guards would leave, then someone would come to replace him and the one replacing him was a person who doesn't take his eyes off you. Whose eyes already raped you from here to the finger."

After ten days, when the IDF bombings started getting closer, the captors separated Liat from Ilana and told her she's moving to another apartment. "I left with one of the guards and another Nukhba who supposedly came to lead us. And then I started walking all over Khan Yunis on foot with my guards, with a hijab and skirt. Half barefoot like this. There were sandals, but they were broken. There's the Nukhba walking in front, and me and my terrorist walking supposedly hand in hand, like we're a couple.

"And then missiles started and they simply pressed me, threw me against the wall. IDF bombings near me every 50 meters, 100 meters, I said 'what am I going to die from the IDF?' I'm trying to survive my captors and in the end I'll die from IDF bombings? Until we arrived again at some disgusting apartment, full of cockroaches and after about 20 minutes, half an hour, they brought Liat back to me again. All this time I'm just crying. There we were on the floor with a thin mattress, and Liat next to me."

**Did you have a way to get news updates? Radio? TV?**

"We had a little Al Jazeera once in a while. As usual you see Bibi and Gallant saying it's a long war and it was hard to hear that. What do you mean a long war? What about us? I didn't hear anything, only when they talk about a deal, that Israel objects. It was very difficult, because I understood they're not fighting for us."

**Did you feel like they gave up on you?**

"Yes. And then I saw the rallies once, I said okay, there are lots of people, 'Liat, we're going back. The people are with us' - that gave me a lot of hope. But every day is a new day, and every day you wake up to fight and think about us returning. But there are days you don't succeed.

"It's like all the time he would say: 'You're staying another year, you're staying two years. Maybe we'll even build you a house above us here, we'll make a big family'. I want to die. I want to kill myself before I bring them a child. If I need to, I'll fight with him, I'll take his weapon and I'll shoot myself."

"They interrogated me if I'm a soldier, what I did in the army"

"The Hamas member said in Hebrew 'we're going to the tunnel'"

Liat and Ilana heard about the hostage release deal on Al Jazeera, but until the last moment they didn't know if they were included in it. According to the published parameters Ilana was at the end of the list, after the older women, after the mothers and children. Only when the last phase approached, they told her she's being released.

"We changed clothes, they covered our eyes, we went to some vehicle and then the Hamas member turns around and tells me in Hebrew 'we're going to the tunnel'. There I already saw black. We arrived at some villa, simply behind a villa there was a door with fire escape stairs. We went down. And then we started walking walking and walking. And I'm barefoot and there are cables and stones and all my feet already cuts. While we're there some two-three hours, I'm trying to ask everyone passing by if anyone knows about Matan."

**What do you mean, you turn to the Hamas members, ask them where Matan is?**

"Yes, trying to see if someone knows."

**And does anyone respond to you?**

"The one who received me there, it was who was going to be the boss in the tunnel, like in my tunnel room. And then I asked him. He didn't know who it was. And then I did this to him with his hair. He tells me, 'from Ofakim?' I tell him, 'yes'. He tells me, 'yes', he's here. I simply started crying, begging, for them to let me see him, and let me hug him. Just to see him, for him to see me, to see that I'm okay, to see that he's okay. It didn't help. He told me, later, later, later."

**And later did it happen? Did they let you see him?**

"No," she answers crying. "It didn't help."

"We went out to walk in Khan Younis, the terrorist held my hand"

"I promised the other hostages that I would get them out of there"

"And then they brought me to be in a room, where I already saw more hostages," she continues to recount.

**Do you remember who?**

"Yes, there Sapir Cohen was there. With us were David Kunio, Ofer Kalderon and Eitan Horn."

**How were they? Were you able to talk to them, communicate with them?**

"Broken like everyone. Without hope. We were all desperate. We thought no one would get out. That's it."

**Did any of the other hostages see Matan, meet him?**

"Yes, Ofer."

**And what did he tell about him?**

"That he's alive and healthy and whole, without injuries. It really strengthened me. I said 'okay maybe at least his kidnapping wasn't violent like mine'," she says and cries. "But I still wanted to see. To verify for myself really how he is. But they don't care, no matter what I did, I couldn't get them to let me see him. Until... the next day they already came to tell me I'm leaving. So I told them I Here is the translation of the remaining text:

So I told them that I wanted to see Matan first. And they said no."

**They tell you you're leaving, and you try to negotiate with them?**

"Yes."

**Where does the courage come from?**

"I want to see Matan. I want to tell him face to face that I... that we will get him out. Just like I promised my friends that I left behind. To David, who can't hug his wife and daughters. To Eitan who can't return to his mother like I returned. I promised them that I would get them out of there, and meanwhile I'm not fulfilling that. And I ask myself if I'm doing everything - because eight months have passed and they're not here," she says and wipes away tears.

**Ilana was released in the last phase, after 55 days in captivity. Ilana returned to Israel and one of the first women she met was Einav - Matan's mother...**

"I simply went and immediately hugged her. I told her: 'Matan is in captivity. He's okay, but we'll do everything to get him out of there. And he will get out'. So I just hugged her. It was so hard for me, because I didn't understand why I can hug his mother. And he can't hug her."

"We were broken, we thought we would never leave". Ilana and Sapir Cohen at their release from Hamas

The special connection with Einav, Matan's mother

"We haven't seen each other for a few days," Einav Zangauker tells her when they meet in the Hostages Square. "Too much time," Ilana tells her, "10 months feels like 20 years... but we'll bring them back, we'll bring our Matan back. We'll bring him back." Einav responds: "All the strength you see when I go out to fight for Matan is 99 percent strength that Ilana gives me," and Ilana answers: "That we give each other." Einav agrees and sums up: "It's a special connection."

**How was it for you to hear Ilana's stories from captivity?**

Einav: "Very difficult. It adds to my worries, maybe they're also beating him, trying to interrogate him, things like that."

"We give each other strenght". Ilana and Einav Zengauker at a demonstration in Jerusalem.

**Ilana told us yesterday about a dream she had in captivity.**

Einav: "Yes? What dream."

Ilana: "That we were at home and then my mom came and tells me, 'I brought you a surprise', and it was Matan."

Einav: "Wow."

Ilana: "And he tells me, 'Baby, I'm with you, I'm here, I'm strong'. And then he gave me the strongest hug - that's what woke me up. And then I understood that he's alive, but that he's suffering like me."

Einav: "Because you feel him, because the love between you is strong, you feel him and he feels you and if he came to you in a dream, I believe he's trying to send you strength from it."

Fighting for the release of her son. Einav Zengauker

Since she was released, her life is divided between mental and physical rehabilitation and the struggle to bring back the hostages. Ilana hardly misses any protests and doesn't settle for just speeches - together with Einav every week they show up at Begin Gate in the Kirya.

**Do you see yourself ever returning to what you were, to the life you had?**

"To what I was, no. Ilana won't be the Ilana of October 6th. My life has changed."

**What needs to happen for you... to be able to return to yourself?**

"I want the hostages to be released. I need the people to start their rehabilitation. I need someone to hear us, to understand that we're asking for our lives, our people, our family, our blood. We didn't ask for more, that's all I need." link

Acronyms and Glossary

COGAT - Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories

ICC - International Criminal Court in the Hague

IJC - International Court of Justice in the Hague

MDA - Magen David Adom - Israel Ambulance Corp

PA - Palestinian Authority - President Mahmud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen

PMO- Prime Minister's Office

UAV - Unmanned Aerial vehicle, Drone. Could be used for surveillance and reconnaissance, or be weaponized with missiles or contain explosives for 'suicide' explosion mission

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