🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 362, 2023 - October 2, 2024 🎗️

  

🎗️Day 362 that 101 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’re waiting for you, all of you.
A deal is the only way to bring
all the hostages home- the murdered for burial and the living for rehabilitation.

#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope

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

‎אין נצחון עד שכל החטופים בבית

Tonight is the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year and the traditional greeting is Happy Holiday and Good New Year. For so many in Israel, this holiday will not be celebrated and traditional greetings will not be said. Many will have a traditional meal but without the excitement and joy of spending the holiday together with family and friends. Many others will not even do that and 101 of our sisters, brothers, fathers, grandfathers, uncles, daughters, sons will continue to languish in hell, in the Hamas captivity in Gaza and their families cannot even begin to celebrate a new year. How could they? The them and for so many of us, it is the 362nd day of October 2023. There cannot be a holiday, a time of joy, a celebration until they are all home. But there are 86 people and their families who will be celebrating and enjoying spending time with their families and friends. Some of them may even mention the situation of the hostages during their meal and prayers, but they will eat, wish each other well, say the traditional holiday greetings as though everything is normal. These 68 members of the government coalition will not risk their political career or their seat as a minister and member of Knesset and their ministry and partisan budgets to do what is right, for what is needed for the country to survive and heal, to do their duty. None of them will stand up and say that if a deal is not made to bring the hostages home, they will leave the government, not a single one of them! We have the messianic extremists Smotrich and Ben Gvir who threated to leave the government every other day if they don't get what they want, especially if there is a talk of a hostage deal and ending the war. We know very well that they and their parties don't give a damn about the hostages. As religious Jews, they also don't give a damn that both Rambam and Ramban said that redemption of prisoners, under all circumstances and for any price, is the most important thing in Judaism. They ignore the things that go against their messianic ideologies. But where are the rest of the coalition partners, those who claim that they don't sleep because of the hostage situation? Where are they? When will they say that they will leave the government if a deal isn't made? When? When all the hostages are dead?

Who could believe that we would still have hostages in Gaza after 362 days? They should have and could have been home a long time ago.
No, this Rosh Hashana is not a holiday we can celebrate and enjoy. Not until the hostages can sit with their families at a holiday table. Until then, there is no joy.
I can only wish that that this New Year will bring with it a quick return of the hostages, living and dead so that we may all begin to heal.

There is a new section at the end -Dark Legacy - The Abandonment of October 7th Hostages - A collection of short essays by influential people in Israel today - by the Forum for Life - Saving Israeli Hostages

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

*7:00pm yesterday - Jaffa - terror attack - 2 terrorist went off of the light rail train, took out their guns and started shooting. 6 people were killed, 7 wounded. The two terrorists were killed
There is a second terror attack in Tel Aviv - terrorist stabbed a person and ran away.

Two suspected terrorists seen carrying out an attack in Jaffa, October 1, 2024 (X screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the copyright law)

*7:30pm - attack from Iran has begun- so far, over 200 ballistic missiles at Israel triggering sirens across the country- from all the missiles, only 3 people were lightly wounded thanks to our amazing air defenses and the incredible assistance from the US which also shot down many of the missiles (exact number currently unknown)
Palestinian media report that a man was killed by missile shrapnel in the West Bank village of Nu’eima, near Jericho, amid the Iranian attack on Israel. video of the entire missile without its warhead landed in Ramallah in the West Bank video

*8:10pm yesterday - north - rockets/missiles
*9:45pm yesterday -north - rockets/missiles
*11:30pm yesterday - north - rockets/missiles
*11:45pm yesterday -north - rockets/missiles
*5:15am -north - rockets/missiles

*6:210am -north - rockets/missiles

*6:40am - north - rockets/missiles

*7:10am-north - rockets/missiles
*7:20am-north - rockets/missiles

*7:25am -north - rockets/missiles
*7:40am -north - rockets/missiles
**8:00am -north - rockets/missiles

*8:25am - north - rockets/missiles
*8:35am - north - rockets/missiles
*8:55am - north - rockets/missiles
*9:15am - north - rockets/missiles
*9:25am - north - rockets/missiles
*9:50am - north - rockets/missiles

Some 100 rockets have been launched from Lebanon at northern Israel since this morning, according to the IDF. In the last barrage, some 10 rockets were fired toward the Western Galilee and Haifa Bay area. There are no reports of injuries in the latest attack.

Illustrative: Black smoke rises from homes in the northern Israeli border community of Metula after being hit by Hezbollah anti-tank missiles, as seen from the Lebanese town of Marjayoun, June 22, 2024. (AP/Hussein Malla)

*11:25am - north - rockets/missiles
*11:35am -north - rockets/missiles
*11:50am - north - rockets/missiles
*12:10pm -north - hostile aircraft 

*1:00pm - north - rockets/missiles
*1:10pm - north - hostile aircraft - neve Ziv, Avdon, Manot, Yehiam. Givaton, Yinoach Jat, Klil, Yarka, Amaka

*1:10pm - north -  rockets/missiles
*2:45pm - north - rockets/missiles
*2:50pm - north -  rockets/missiles
*3:35pm - north -  rockets/missiles
*4:20pm - north -  rockets/missiles

Captain Oster, who was 22 years old and from Modi'in, was a soldier in the Egoz Unit.

An Israeli soldier, Captain Eitan Oster, was killed during fighting in Lebanon, Israeli media announced on Wednesday. 

Captain Oster, 22 years old and from Modi'in, was a soldier in the Egoz Unit.
May his memory forever be a blessing 

Hostage Updates 

• And still, the hostages are not in the news, not with the Iranian attack, not with the war and ground incursion in the north, not with the terror attack in Jaffa. No, they are not in the news and it is unforgiveable. Yes, all of those things are happening and nothing about them is normal but the hostages are languishing 352 days in hell and our government, our prime minister is looking for the glory of success in the north and regarding Iran. He doesn't want to be talking about his biggest failure, the hostages and October 7. He can't even remember the date when talking to the press. Every time, he says a different date. He wants that date erased from everyone's mind. He wants the hostage issue to take a back seat, one if the very back of a very long bus, so that no one can see it or talk about it. So what if there are 101 families who have been suffering 362 days and their loved ones are living in hell, if they are even alive. He has managed to stay prime minister and now has even extended his coalition with the lower than low Gidon Saar, which makes his almost invincible and all but promises that this horrible failed government will remain until the next official elections and it will give Netanyahu even more time to rehabilitate his image and work to erase and distort all that led up to October 7, the massacres, rapes, torture and the ongoing hell of the 101 hostages and their families. That is all that matters to him. He has literally destroyed the lives of thousands but as long as he remains prime minister, all if right with the world.
  
  
  Every year I send a Rosh Hashanah greeting. I always try to formulate wishes for peace and give some inspiration to all of us. Like all of us, this year I have no words. My heart is broken, my eyes full of tear, sleep without thoughts of the hostages does not exist. I maintain my sanity thanks to my non-stop activity to bring the war to an end and the hostages to return to their homes. My personal history has led me to be perhaps the only Israeli who is in continuous contact with the leaders of Hamas and this allows me to make proposals, promote deals, and with great hope - bring our hostages home. I have 18 years of experience in negotiations with Hamas, and also 18 years of fighting with the official bodies in the State of Israel who determine whether there will be a deal or not. Gilad Shalit was in captivity for five unnecessary years because of the Israeli system. Our hostages in Gaza have been there for way too many months . As I understand it, there is a deal on the table that in three weeks they can all be returned home. The price is known: the end of the Gaza war, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an agreed release of Palestinian prisoners - and all 101 abductees will return home. In addition to this, Hamas says (to me) that they are ready to transfer the power in Gaza to a professional, technocratic body, not of Hamas. In other words, the Prime Minister can present this deal as his big win. He returns the hostages and the government in Gaza will not be run by Hamas. Since I am not a representative of the State of Israel nor a spokesperson for Hamas, the responsibility now rests with the State of Israel's negotiating team. They do not need the Prime Minister's approval to check with the mediators - the US, Qatar, and Egypt - whether Hamas is behind the three-week deal or not. They must check it. This proposal  is on President Biden's desk, it is on the desk of the Emir of Qatar, it is on the desk of the Egyptian intelligence chief. The Prime Minister of Israel knows that there is such a proposal. There is no more time to hesitate. It's time to decide. Netanyahu must accept this deal. President Biden must press with all his might on the Prime Minister to accept it, and then Biden's legacy will be that of the president who ended the Gaza war and returned the hostages. All of this is doable. All this can happen right after Rosh Hashanah. All this must happen immediately after the new year. We simply cannot bear this pain anymore. Our recovery as a nation will only begin after the return of the hostages. I wish us all a much better year. (Gershon Baskin, 2-10-2024)

Gaza 

• The IDF says it struck Hamas terrorists who were operating from a school in central Gaza, guided by pinpoint intelligence.

  Hamas was using the school as a base to plan and to carry out “terror attacks against IDF soldiers and the State of Israel,” says the military.

  The IDF says that ahead of the strike, it carried out a number of steps “to limit the harm to civilians.”

  The WAFA Palestinian news agency reports that at least nine Palestinians were killed and 20 injured in the strike on the school, where displaced people were sheltering. 

Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria

• The IDF says it killed the commander of Hezbollah’s Unit 4400, which is tasked with delivering weapons from Iran and its proxies to Lebanon.

  Muhammad Ja’far Kasir, who headed Unit 4400, was killed in a strike carried out by fighter jets in Beirut, according to the military.

  The IDF says Kasir was “one of the senior leaders of the Hezbollah terror organization and the most dominant [person] in the Iran-Hezbollah-Syria terror axis, and is considered close to the Iranian regime.”

  He was involved in hundreds of “strategic” weapons smuggling operations from Iran to Hezbollah, and was among those who advanced the terror group’s precision missile project.

  Kasir served as head of Unit 4400 for some 15 years, the IDF says.

• The IDF is calling on Lebanese civilians in two dozen villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate immediately.

  “Hezbollah’s activity forces the IDF to act against it. The IDF does not wish to harm you,” Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, says in a statement on X.

  “For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately. Anyone who is near Hezbollah operatives, their facilities or their weapons, puts themselves at risk,” he says.

  Adraee says that any house used by Hezbollah for military purposes is a target.

  
  Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP/Baz Ratner)

  The Lebanese civilians are called to evacuate and head north. “Attention, do not move south! Any movement south could endanger your life,” the statement says.

  The IDF says it will update the civilians when they can return.

  Yesterday, the IDF issued similar orders to 28 other villages in southern Lebanon.

  The military has also warned against any movement in vehicles from the north of the Litani River to the south of it.

  The military has described the ground operations in southern Lebanon as “limited, localized, and targeted raids,” with the goal of demolishing Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the border area. Officials have said that the military intends for the operations to end as quickly as possible.

• The IDF says another division is being deployed to southern Lebanon for ground operations against Hezbollah.

  The 36th Division is now joining the 98th Division, which had entered Lebanon on Monday night.

  The military has described the ground operations in southern Lebanon as “limited, localized, and targeted raids,” with the goal of demolishing Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the border area.

• Hezbollah claims it confronted Israeli forces “infiltrating” the Lebanese town of Odaisseh early this morning, and forced them to retreat.

  Hezbollah operatives confronted “an Israeli enemy infantry force that tried to infiltrate into the village of Odaisseh… and clashed with them,” a statement says, adding separately that Hezbollah also targeted three different points across the border with rockets and artillery.

  There was no immediate comment from the IDF. The Israeli military revealed yesterday that it had conducted dozens of cross-border raids into Hezbollah in recent months and did not have any direct clashes with Hezbollah operatives.

• The IDF says that it has carried out a number of strikes in recent days against Hezbollah infrastructure situated throughout Beirut, releasing footage of one such strike.

  The military says that its fighter jets operated based on precise intelligence to strike “weapon production sites” and other terror infrastructure in and around Beirut. It took steps to prevent harm to uninvolved civilians, the IDF says, including advance warnings to the population.

  “The Hezbollah terror organization places its production sites and its weaponry under residential buildings in the heart of Beirut and endangers the population in the area,” the IDF says.

  The strikes the military is referring to are separate from a number of targeted assassinations it has carried out in the Dahiyeh suburb of Beirut against Hezbollah officials.

  Israel is continuing to strike Hezbollah targets in Lebanon this morning as well, the IDF adds.

• Hezbollah says it targeted an Israeli unit with an explosive device near a southern border village, as the group clashed with Israeli forces entering Lebanon.

  “As the Israeli enemy army tried to sneak around the village of Yaroun… (Hezbollah) fighters surprised them by detonating an explosive device,” the terror group says, reporting Israeli casualties.

  The IDF said earlier that troops were engaged in close-quarters combat with Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon, and that at least one soldier had been killed.

West Bank and Jerusalem and Terror attacks within Israel

•  The death toll in the Jaffa terror attack has been revised to six, police say. Another nine were wounded. One of the terrorists was armed with an assault rifle, while the other had a knife. The pair shot and stabbed civilians on the Tel Aviv light rail, before continuing on foot, attacking people on Jerusalem Street in the city.  A municipal security officer and armed civilians shot and “neutralized” the two terrorists, police add. 
   

• **Ilya, Revital, Inbar and Shahar were murdered in an attack in Jaffa**

  It has been cleared for publication that Ilya Nozadze, 42, was murdered in the attack • Revital Bronstein, 24, was a graduate student in computer science and is survived by her mother • Inbar Segev Vigder, 33, shielded her 9-month-old son Ari with her body, who survived • Shahar Goldman, 30, got married just over a year ago and was an international dancer

  
  Shahar Goldman and Invar Segev Vigder

  Ilya Nozadze, 42, Revital Bronstein, 24, Inbar Segev Vigder, 33, and Shahar Goldman, 30, were murdered in an attack on Jerusalem Boulevard in Jaffa last night (Tuesday). Four additional people were murdered.

  Revital Bronstein, 24, was a graduate student in computer science. Revital was an only child to her mother, Liora. The mayor of Bat Yam, Tzvika Brot, eulogized her on his Facebook account: "Even in high school, she won prestigious awards for her work in computer science and artificial intelligence. At the same time, she was also a gifted comic artist."

  Inbar was the mother of a nine-month-old baby, whom she protected with her body during the attack. Inbar lived in Tel Aviv and owned a fitness and Pilates studio in the city center. Inbar's husband, Yaari Vigder, was fighting in Gaza and the north in the reserves, and their baby son Ari, 9 months old, was born shortly after he left Gaza.

  Inbar's husband said on Reshet Bet: "Inbar didn't answer me, so I rode my bike as fast as I could to the scene and couldn't find her. After a thorough search, I found our dog shot, with passersby treating her. I searched for Inbar throughout the neighborhood and realized I needed to go to the hospital because I wasn't getting a response from anywhere." Inbar's husband continued: "Ari, the baby, was with her. I found him in the hands of a doctor inside a protected space in the hospital because of the Iranian attack yesterday. Ari was in a carrier that covered Inbar's entire upper body during the attack, he wasn't injured at all. We're trying to wrap him now and for the rest of his life - so he feels the same love he received from Inbar."

  Mayor Revivo said that Shahar is survived by her husband Tai, her sisters Estar, Dikla and Meirav, and parents Avraham and Ruth Goldman, who serves as the deputy principal of Sapir School in the city. Yair Revivo, the mayor of Lod, eulogized Shahar: "She got married just over a year ago, was an excellent international dancer."

  Five more people were murdered, including a 20-year-old man, a 30-year-old man, a 20-year-old woman, and a 17-year-old girl. Additionally, there are 11 injured in various degrees of injury, including five seriously injured, one of whom is a female soldier, four moderately injured, and two lightly injured. Wolfson Hospital reported this morning that four moderately injured patients are hospitalized there.
  
  Three other victims' names have been released: 
  Nadia Sokolenko, 40 from Jaffa, Younis Crosis, 26 from Jerusalem. The seventh victim's name has not yet been released.
  

  
  Left to right - Invar Segev Vigder, Shahar Goldman, Nadia Sokolenko, Ilia Nozadze

  

  Younis Crosis, Architecture Student at Tel Aviv University
  
  
  
  
  "They were just waiting for a train"

  The two terrorists, Muhammad Khalaf Saher Rajab and Hassan Muhammad Hassan Tamimi, Palestinians from Hebron, were neutralized at the scene by inspectors from the SELA unit, police officers, and citizens with personal firearms. link
  Nadia Sokolenco, 40, a Moldovan-Israeli, has been named as one of the victims of last night’s terror shooting at a Jaffa light rail station.
  

  May their memories forever be a blessing
  
  

• The city of Hod Hasharon, a suburb of Tel Aviv, says that many homes in the city were damaged in last night’s Iranian missile attack, from shock waves and shrapnel.

  
  Workers remove broken glass from a damaged building that was hit during Iran's missile attack in Tel Aviv, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP/Ariel Schalit)

  The municipality says a number of homes were seriously damaged and dozens more suffered light damage in the attack, with around 100 homes suffering some damage, including from shrapnel and the shock set off by falling missile fragments.

Politics and the War (general news)

• **After the Iranian attack: Power struggle between ministers in dramatic Cabinet meeting**

  Defense Minister Gallant and Minister in the Defense Ministry Smotrich during the discussion on placing protective shelters in the West Bank. Netanyahu banged on the table and asked to stop the confrontation

  A sharp power struggle erupted in the Cabinet meeting convened last night (Tuesday) between Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Minister in the Defense Ministry and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. The two argued over the placement of protective shelters in the West Bank, sparking a debate about authority within the Defense Ministry. Gallant, who participated in the meeting via video call, made it clear to Smotrich that the issue in question was under his responsibility and said: "There is one Defense Minister." The Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, who participated in the discussion, supported Minister Gallant's position. Smotrich was furious about this and claimed it was a violation of the agreement with him. Netanyahu banged on the table and asked to stop the confrontation while promising to review the agreement and get back to the ministers.

  In January 2023, Netanyahu decided that the authority over the Civil Administration would be transferred to Minister Bezalel Smotrich despite the opposition of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The struggle for power in the ministry then reached a peak in a heated discussion attended by Netanyahu, Gallant, Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and other senior officers.

  In a conversation held at the beginning of last year, Smotrich presented the outline that was decided in the coalition agreements and proposed that civilian authorities be transferred to him. Military authorities would remain with the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, and issues of illegal construction by Jews and Palestinians would be under his purview. Since these are actions with security and political implications, decisions would be made subject to the Prime Minister's decisions. link It is astounding to see but, unfortunate very believable what a senior minister of our government is most concerned about at this time. The totally unqualified finance minister, Smotrich doesn't give a damn that we were under Iranian attack, that we have a war going on in the north, that we have 101 hostages languishing in Gaza, and especially doesn't give a damn that our world credit rating is going down the toilet; the thing that a finance minister should be most concerned about. No, all he cares about is his messianic missions of getting money for extreme Jewish education and building more settlements. And our failed prime minister just allows all of it to happen. Big deal that he slammed his fist on the table. Did he even say anything to his finance minister about the fact that our credit rating was downgraded twice in one week by two separate international finance groups? No, of course not. He is weak and dangerous and allows the most dangerous part of his coalition to lead him by the nose.

The Region and the World

•   **Iran launched approximately 180 ballistic missiles at Israel** 

  Missile impacts reported in central Israel, the Gush Dan area, and the Negev – two lightly injured by shrapnel. • Home Front Command: It is safe to leave protected areas. • Israeli official: There will be a severe response. • IDF spokesperson: There were a few hits, and the missile fire will have consequences. • Israeli airspace temporarily closed. • Iran: The missile launch at Israel is in response to the assassinations of Haniyeh and Nasrallah.

  Iran launched 181 ballistic missiles toward Israel this evening (Tuesday). Tehran claimed it was in response to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah, and a senior official who was with them. Alarms were sounded across almost the entire country, from north to south. There are reports of impacts in several areas, with two people lightly injured by shrapnel in Tel Aviv.

  **20:40 - Around 180 missiles launched from Iran, impacts in central Israel and the Negev**

  Iran launched 181 missiles toward Israel, with dozens intercepted. Some fell in open areas. In Gedera, a school building, which was empty, was hit directly, and shrapnel was found in several locations.

  **20:35 - IDF spokesperson: There were a few hits, people can leave the protected areas**

  IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Daniel Hagari gave a statement. He said many of the missile launches were intercepted, and there were only a few hits in central Israel and other regions. "At this stage, we do not identify any further threats," Hagari said. "This missile fire will have consequences – the plans are ready."

  **20:10 - Israeli airspace closed, reopened shortly after**

  **19:55 - Iran: Missile fire at Israel is a response to the assassinations of Haniyeh, Nasrallah, and the senior official with them.**  link The surprising thing is that Hizbollah didn't join in with this attack. I thought that it would be almost definite that they would have. Both the US forces and Jordanian Air Defenses shot down missiles on their way to Israel.

• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Tehran did not communicate with the US before its Iranian missile attack on Israel last night, but warns it against intervening in any response.

  “Before the attack, there was no exchange of messages,” Araghchi tells state TV, adding that Iran communicated with the US after the attack.

  “We have… warned the US forces to withdraw from this matter and not to intervene,” Araghchi says, adding that the message was relayed through the Swiss embassy in Tehran.

• Two blasts early Wednesday near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen were likely caused by hand grenades, Danish police say. “Two explosions occurred at 3:20 am at the Israeli embassy. It is our preliminary assessment that it was due to two hand grenades,” Jens Jespersen of Copenhagen police tells a press conference, adding that three young Swedes had been arrested.

Personal Stories

In Captivity: A Conversation with Shani Goren
In Kibbutz Nir Oz, everyone knew Shani. She was born and raised there, and after her military service, she started working with the kibbutz children in the kindergartens. That's where she also met Eitan Yahalomi when he was still a child in kindergarten. On October 7th, she was kidnapped from her home to Gaza, and during captivity, she met Eitan again, now 12 years old. From that moment, they looked after each other - until they were freed. "In Captivity" - a special series of conversations with released hostages. Listen

Shani Goren was born and raised in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Everyone knew her there, and at a stage when many of her friends had already started leaving the kibbutz, she stayed and found herself working with the local children. "Before I finished my military service, I asked where I could work in the kibbutz," she told "In Captivity," a series of conversations with returned hostages from the "Echad Bayom" podcast. "So they told me, well, the only place is in the kindergartens. I said, what do I have to do with children? So I started in the kindergartens, and then I moved to informal education."

Shani loved life in the kibbutz, working with the children, and sitting with her friends, including Arbel Yahud, Ariel Cunio, and Sasha Trupanov, who were also kidnapped. On October 7th, Shani was alone in her house. When the sirens started, her brother, who was a member of the emergency squad and a fighter in the Shaldag unit, called her: "He told me not to go anywhere, to lock the doors, enter the safe room, and be quiet."

Shani spent the time on a phone call with her sister-in-law who tried to calm her down, but around 11:00 AM, the terrorists also reached her. "They opened the safe room door and threw a grenade that luckily didn't explode," Shani recalled. "After a few seconds, five armed terrorists entered and surrounded me. One of them negotiated with me and made an X sign with his hands, for captives."

I realized we were in mortal danger

Shani tried to resist, but the terrorists pointed weapons at her, so she understood she had no chance against them. They took her out of the house, and one of the terrorists forcibly took her on a kind of tour around the burned and conquered kibbutz: "He wanted to show me that Nir Oz no longer exists. Suddenly I saw Doron Katz-Asher outside, her mother Efrat Katz, and the daughters Aviv and Raz. Doron called out to me, so the terrorist took me to them, and then we walked until we reached the exit of the kibbutz. They led us to a tractor trailer, and then Naamit Dekel-Chen and Sharon and David Cunio with one of their daughters also arrived there."

They began the journey to Gaza, and about a hundred and fifty meters from the border, an air force combat helicopter fired in their direction: "We were all injured, my entire left side was hit by shrapnel and the others were injured in other places. Efrat Katz, may her memory be blessed, was killed on the spot." All the terrorists surrounding them were killed except for one. "At first I thought he did a great job, but when I returned from captivity and talked about it on 'Uvda', there was an investigation. In the investigation, they said that the helicopter received an instruction to 'take down everything', and that we were in mortal danger."

Shani and the others deliberated what to do, but Shani was holding the injured Aviv and realized she couldn't run with her and escape. Suddenly a tractor full of loot from the kibbutz arrived, and the terrorist driving it got off and threatened them to come with him. They all remained standing until he took one of Doron's daughters and started walking, so they decided to go with him. The terrorist put them on the tractor and they started driving towards the Strip. "You look all the way and there's no army, nothing, lots of terrorists and Gazans coming and going. When we entered Gaza we saw a lot of rejoicing, they put us all in one car and beat us."

Shani and the other hostages were taken to a gathering place in Gaza and their ID cards were taken from them. They dressed them like Arabs and wanted to separate them. But Shani begged to stay with Doron and the children: "Doron was more severely injured than me and there were two children to take care of, so we begged. In the end they agreed and took us to some house." The stay there and the trauma of the kidnapping were difficult for the children: "There were tantrums, but there's nothing to do. On one hand, the children are not allowed to shout, and on the other hand, they kidnapped small children so let them deal with it. You can't shut up a four-year-old child. But it was sad, when suddenly the child says 'I thought there were bad guys only in movies'."

"They lifted the blankets and we saw Ruti, Keren and Ohad Munder"

After 16 days in the house, they woke them up at five in the morning: "They told us to get ready quickly, they're going to bomb the house. So they led us on foot to Nasser Hospital." When they arrived, they were put in a room, and suddenly they saw three figures covered with blankets: "Doron and I looked at each other and said what's this? Did they put them in a room with refugees? But then they lifted the blankets and we saw that it was Ruti, Keren and Ohad Munder."

There in the hospital, Shani encountered 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi, whom she knew from working in informal education at the kibbutz: "I was walking with Ruti in the hospital corridor and suddenly I see two people walking with a child. I told Ruti it's Eitan. So I approached him, hugged him and said 'Eitan, it's Shani'. At first he didn't understand who I was because I was dressed like an Arab woman, but I took off the hijab and he recognized me." At first the terrorists wanted to continue walking with Eitan and take him somewhere else, but Shani convinced them to leave him with her. And then suddenly, they also brought Erez Kalderon, also 12 years old, to her room: "Since then they associated both of them with me. Later they also brought Yafa Adar into our room, and we were ten people in a small room. The youngest was two and a half years old, and the oldest was 85. It wasn't easy."

Shani Goren and Eitan Yahalomi. The children were worried they would remain in captivity for a very long time

Shani says that Eitan looked after her there, and also helped others. "When Doron's daughters cried in the middle of the night they would ask for Eitan, so he would sit next to them and put them to sleep. He was a soul," she said. "He simply kept my sanity and was my anchor there. Every time people say that I looked after him, but he was my guardian angel there."

The children were very worried about the possibility that they would remain in captivity for a long time: "They would say what? Are we going to be like Gilad Shalit now? We'll be here for five years? And I would say no way, we're civilians, you're children and they must return us." Erez also had a hard time, and Shani tried to tell him bedtime stories and alleviate his fears, and would stroke him until he fell asleep. They both also told her what they experienced that Saturday. "Erez saw the terrorists take his father, but we didn't know anything about Eitan's family. I told him that surely Grandma Esti is waiting for him, and if not, then when I return I'll be his and take care of him. And indeed the first thing I asked when I got out of captivity was who received Eitan. When they told me his mother met him I felt relieved."

When the hostage deal began in November, Erez and Eitan were released, and Shani started moving between rooms where hostages from Nir Oz were staying. "I understood that in every room I came to, everyone was leaving except me, and there I had a very big breakdown." At some point they transferred her to a room with Liat Atzili and Ilana Gritzewsky, and very quickly they separated them and took Shani and Ilana down to the tunnels. There they met more hostages from Nir Oz - Sapir Cohen, Eitan Horen, David Cunio and Ofer Kalderon. In the morning they finally took the girls and they were released as part of the deal, and the men were left behind.

When Shani was released, she discovered that her close friend, Arbel Yahud, was also kidnapped to Gaza. "In Hatzerim I met my brother, and he told me that Arbel is also in Gaza. Since then there's a black screen on my life." Her good friends Ariel Cunio and Sasha Trupanov are also still in captivity: "I'm waiting for them to return, only then can we start breathing again and rehabilitate." Since her release, Shani has been living with guilt over the fact that she was released and others were not. "My survivor's guilt is very great," she explained. "Although I didn't decide that I'm being released, but why did I come out and the adults didn't? They were later killed there. Why was I released and Arbel is still there? It breaks my heart. I try to tell myself that it's not my fault and that I didn't choose this but it's not simple. I just hope it ends as soon as possible." link

Dark Legacy - The Abandonment of October 7th Hostages

“Only Military Force

Will Free the Hostages” - Nine Months of Deceit

Prof. Avraham Sela

Professor Emeritus, Department of International Relations,

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Netanyahu’s declaration of the “Iron Swords” war as a result of Hamas’ murderous attack set two goals that were allegedly equal in importance: the defeat of Hamas as a military and administrative force, and the release of 240 hostages who were abducted and taken into the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. But while the military goal was assigned to the Israel Defense Forces, the release of hostages has become a political dilemma that is bound to the government’s survival.

Placing both goals on an allegedly equal plane hides the fact that the release of hostages has become contingent on the progression of war (“only military force can lead to the release of hostages”). It was clear from the beginning that the war would last many months, and without precise information on the hostages’ location, they would be in grave mortal danger due to heavy aerial bombing, tank artillery, and all other weapons operated by the IDF and Hamas terrorists, as they are in the crossfire.

All this should be considered in light of the fact that over decades in which Israel dealt with the abduction of civilians and soldiers by terrorist organizations, any effort to release them by force through military or police action always entailed a heavy price including the loss of some hostages as well as casualties among the attacking forces. In this context, Israel’s history with terrorist organizations unequivocally shows that diplomacy has yielded far more success and brought about fewer casualties on our side than the use of force.

After nine months of war, over 100 hostages remain in Hamas captivity, many of them no longer alive. Only 112 hostages were released (80 of them Israeli) in November 2023 as a result of international diplomacy.

Only 12 of the hostages have been released by the IDF, a small number of them in planned operations and the others by chance. These figures say it all. Anyone who knows anything about combat in dense urban terrain - especially in the labyrinth of tunnels and hiding places Hamas has built above and below ground - realizes that whoever holds the hostages would prefer to murder them and die rather than be killed by the IDF and lose the hostages.

Netanyahu considers the hostages an impediment to the superior goal of keeping his coalition intact by continuing the war in Gaza, and he is willing to sacrifice them without hesitation. This is the cruel and cynical political game Netanyahu has been playing for months: creating a façade of negotiations for the release of hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners “with blood on their hands” and a “temporary” ceasefire, while simultaneously making declarations that hinder the negotiations, time and time again.

It is not enough that Netanyahu has neglected the hostages, leaving them to their fates; his alleged attempts to negotiate a deal are an abuse of the hostages and their families, who are thrown from hope to despair without any light at the end of the tunnel.

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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