🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 404, 2023 - November 13, 2024 🎗️

  

🎗️Day 404 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

 The two sections at the end, personal stories and Dark Legacy - The Abandonment of October 7th Hostages are very important to read, as important or more than the news of the day.

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

*7:10pm yesterday - north - rockets/missiles
*8:40pm yesterday - north - rockets/missiles
*8:55pm yesterday -Mitzpeh Ramon - hostile aircraft - 
*9:00pm yesterday - south - rockets - Kfar Aza
*10:20pm yesterday - north - hostile aricraft - Dishon, Malkia
*11:35pm yesterday - north - hostile aircraft - Nahariya, Saar
*1:30am - north - hostile aircraft- Ramat Magshamim
*5:15am - north - hostile aircraft - Rosh Hanikra, Shlomi, Batzet, MIlu'ot, Leeman
*6:20am - north - hostile aircraft - Alma, Richania, Kerem Ben Zimra, Ramat Dalton
*7:00am - north - hostile aircraft - Aviviim, Yiron, Dishon, Sde Eliezer, Ayelet Hashahar
*10:25am - north - rockets/missiles
*10:35am - north - hostile aircraft - Batzet, Leeman, Milu'ot, Shlomi
*12:15pm - north - rockets/missiles
*1:05pm - north - rockets/missiles
*2:35pm - north - rockets/missiles
*2:50pm - north - hostile aircraft - Gesher Haziv, Nahariya, Milu'ot, Leeman, Saad, Saad, Shlomi, Ben Ami, Kabri, Netiv Hashayara, Evron, Sheikh Danon, Shavei Zion, Mizra'a, Regba, Lochemei Haghetto'ot, Shomrat
*2:55pm - north - hostile aircraft - Nes Amim, Bustan Hagalil, Acre, Jedida Macker
*2:55pm - Haifa and areas around - hostile aircraft - Kfar Maserik, Ein Hamifratz, Shaar Neaman, Kiryat Bialkik, Kiryat Motzkin, Kiryat Yam
*3:00pm - north - hostile aircraft - Milu'ot, Leeman, Gesher Haziv, Nahariya, Saad
*3:10pm - north -  rockets/missiles
*3:30pm - north - rockets/missiles
*4:05pm - north - rockets/missiles
*5:20pm - north - hostile aircraft - Ajar, Kfar Yuval, Hagoshrim, Beit Hillel, Kiryat Shemona
*5:45pm - Netanya, Hadera and areas around -rockets/missiles

 
*5:45pm - Center - rockets/missiles - Herzlia, Raanan, Sharon areas, Kfar Sava, Beit Berl, Kfar Sharmyahu
*5:45pm - Areas around Haifa and south - 
*6:10pm - south - rockets - Nir Am

Hostage Updates 

• 

Hostage Sasha Trufanov in a video released by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group on November 13, 2024 (Screen grab)

Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group releases third video of hostage Sasha TrufanovThe Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group releases a video of hostage Sasha Trufanov.

It is unclear when the video was made. In the clip Trufanov says that he is aged 28; however, the video is released two days after he turned 29, his second birthday in captivity.

It is the third video the terror group has released of Trufanov.

Terror groups have previously issued similar videos of hostages in what Israel says is deplorable psychological warfare.

Most Israeli media do not carry the video clips.

Trufanov was taken hostage along with three members of his family — grandmother Irena Tati, mother Yelena (Lena) Trufanova and his girlfriend Sapir Cohen — from Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 Hamas massacre in the Gaza border town.

Trufanova and Tati were released by Hamas on November 29 at the request of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Cohen was released on November 30 as part of a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Sasha Trufanov is an engineer employed at Annapurna Labs, an Israeli microelectronics company purchased by Amazon.

He and Cohen had recently moved in together in a Ramat Gan apartment, so when the Gaza border communities were attacked by Hamas terrorists in what became a massacre of hundreds, his friends didn’t know at first that he was visiting his family there.

Last month, the Hamas terror group said Trufanov and another hostage with Russian citizenship, Maxim Herkin, will be among the first to be released during an eventual hostage deal.

The family of hostage Sasha Trufanov authorizes the publication of the video of him released by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, as his mother says she is concerned by his words.

“I am relieved to see my son alive, but I am very worried to hear what he is saying,” says Lena Trufanov, who was also taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, but was released last November.

“I urge that every effort be made to secure his immediate release and that of all other hostages. They have no time left,” she says.

In the video, Sasha Trufanov says: “I’ve been in captivity for a year, there’s been a shortage of food, water, electricity and now even the basic products have run out.”

Trufanov also asks the citizens of Israel to keep protesting and to remember the hostages, expressing concern that the government has moved on and has “forgotten” those held in Gaza while fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Hostages Families Forum says that the “horrific” video show the urgent need for a deal.

The video “highlights the urgency of returning the 101 hostages – and now, with winter approaching, these hostages, who have been subjected to horrific conditions of abuse, starvation, and darkness for over a year, face an increasing risk of losing their lives,” the forum says.

The video of Trufanov was released more than 13 months after Palestinian terrorists rampaged through Kibbutz Nir Oz, killing or kidnapping 117 out of its 400 residents.  Hamas' video of Sasha (in Hebrew)

 

• US hostage families urge Biden-Trump cooperation to reach deal before inauguration
  

  The families of American-Israeli hostages held in Gaza urged top Biden officials during meetings in Washington on Tuesday to work with their counterparts in the incoming administration in order to secure a hostage deal before President-elect Donald Trump enters office in two months.

  “Our requests… of both administrations right now is they work together, not to prepare the Trump administration for taking office in late January, but rather to get this done now in this unique moment,” hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen’s father Jonathan tells The Times of Israel after he and the relatives of six other American-Israeli hostages met at the White House with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, White House Mideast czar Brett McGurk and other top Biden officials.

  If the sides wait until Trump enters office on January 20 to strike a deal, “there’s a very real possibility that none of the hostages will remain alive, and it will be nearly impossible to retrieve the remains of those who have been murdered,” Dekel-Chen warns.

  While he faults the Israeli government for “abandoning” the hostages for more than 400 days, Dekel-Chen asserts that the Biden administration has done “everything in its power” to negotiate a deal, amid pushback from both Israel and Hamas.

  The families of the American-Israeli hostages will remain in the US for several more days and are working to secure meetings with some of Trump’s recently announced appointees along with Republican lawmakers who will likely be in control of both houses of Congress next year.

  
  

• US President Joe Biden will meet later this afternoon at the White House with the families of the seven remaining American-Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza, a National Security Council spokesperson tells The Times of Israel.

  The families met yesterday with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and urged the Biden administration to work with Donald Trump’s transition team to secure a hostage deal before the president-elect enters office in just over two months.

  Biden is also slated to host Trump later today and will reportedly raise the issue with him.  link As opposed to our prime minister and cabinet, Biden has met with the hostage families on a regular basis while Netanyahu refuses to meet with them, except the minority of families who support Netanyahu continuing the war.

Gaza and the South

•  A terrorist who participated in the October 7 onslaught was killed in a recent IDF drone strike in Gaza City.

  The military says that it had targeted and eliminated a cell of gunmen spotted operating in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City.

  Among the dead was Yasser Ghandi, who according to the IDF infiltrated into Israel and participated in the attacks on October 7.

Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria

• Hezbollah weapon depots and command centers hit in Beirut overnight strikes, IDF says
  

  Overnight, Israeli fighter jets struck Hezbollah weapon depots and command centers in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the IDF says.

  

  Thick smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted Hezbollah in a neighborhood in Beirut southern suburbs on November 13, 2024 (IBRAHIM AMRO / AFP)

  The Hezbollah sites were located “in the heart of a civilian population,” the military says, accusing the terror group of using human shields.

  Before the strikes, the IDF issued evacuation warnings to civilians in the area. video

• IDF: ‘New Hezbollah targets’ reached in expanded south Lebanon ground operation
  

  The IDF has further expanded its ground operation in southern Lebanon, with the 91st Division reaching “new targets” belonging to Hezbollah.

  The IDF says commandos operating with the division raided several new areas, as other brigades continue “defensive and offensive activities in the area.”

  Yesterday, the IDF said that the 36th Division has also expanded ground operations in southern Lebanon.

  Separately, the IDF says it struck dozens of rocket launchers in Lebanon, including the ones used in a deadly attack on Nahariya and long-range fire on central Israel yesterday.

  
  

• Several Hezbollah field commanders were killed in recent airstrikes in southern Lebanon, the military says.

  According to the IDF, in early October, a strike carried out by fighter jets killed Muhammad Musa Salah, who is identified as the commander of Hezbollah’s forces in the Khiam region of southern Lebanon. (Another Hezbollah commander responsible specifically for the town of Khiam was killed earlier this month).

  Salah was responsible for over 2,500 rocket launches at the Golan Heights, Upper Galilee and Galilee Panhandle during the war, as well as attacks on IDF troops in south Lebanon, the military says.

  Another strike on Sunday killed Ayman Muhammad Nabulsi, who the IDF identifies as the commander of Hezbollah’s anti-tank missile unit in the Hajjar regional unit, which is responsible for attacks on northern Israel’s Ramim Ridge region. (Another commander of the anti-tank unit was killed late last month in a separate strike).

  Separate strikes killed Hajj Ali Yussef Salah, the commander of Hezbollah’s forces in the village of Kfar Tebnit, and another unnamed commander responsible for the Ghajar area, the military adds.

• Lebanon’s health ministry says an Israeli strike killed at least six people in a densely packed area south of the capital Beirut, outside Hezbollah’s traditional strongholds.

  The ministry does not say if those killed were members of the terror group.

  “The Israeli enemy strike on Aramoun killed six people” and wounded 15, the ministry says, giving a preliminary toll, adding that “body parts were recovered from the site and their identities are being verified.”

West Bank and Jerusalem and Terror attacks within Israel

•     

Politics and the War (general news)

• With a new Defence Minister, Qatar pausing its role as mediator and Trump returning to the White House. We ask where does the Israel-Gaza conflict go next with Former Israeli hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin. Podcast with Gershon Baskin
  
  

• Baskin: With Netanyahu Israel has become a ‘pariah’ state, freeing the hostages would heal wounds
  For the Israeli activist, who mediated the release of Gilad Shalit after five years of Hamas captivity, Israel’s prime minister is using antisemitism to cover up domestic scandals and exploiting the war for his own self-interest. He also criticises the Palestinian side, which must  prepare the ground for elections postponed for far too long. Qatar's step back should be used to restart negotiations.
  

  Milan (AsiaNews) – Israeli political activist Gershon Baskin, founder of the Israel Palestine Creative Regional Initiative (IPCRI) and a former columnist for the Jerusalem Post, is one of the leading experts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He does not shy away from criticising Israel’s current leadership, which is using Antisemitism to cover up domestic scandals, and Israeli citizens and foreigners held by Hamas for over a year to pursue the war and their military objectives, turning Israel into a "pariah state".

  He also does not leave the Palestinians off the hook. Once a truce is achieved, they should focus on preparing the ground for elections that have been postponed for far too long. However, this is not helped by a "very weak" international community that is waiting to see the first steps of an "unpredictable" Donald Trump.

  As a mediator, Baskin was instrumental in the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held by Hamas for almost five and a half years. He was part of the Israeli-Palestinian delegation that recently met with Pope Francis. For him, freeing the hostages is crucial; their released should have been done a long time ago.

  His interview with AsiaNews follows:

  Let's start with what happened recently in Amsterdam, with clashes between Israeli fans and local pro-Palestinian activists. President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incident as “hunting down Jews" and a "pogrom". What do you think?

  I think it is a mix of things. I think there is an antisemitic response taking place around the world. But, I think, moreover, it is about what Israel is doing in Gaza and in Lebanon. And the anger that is spreading out among Arabs and Muslims around the world. It is not necessarily directed at Jews; it is more directed at Israel. There is antisemitism within the anti-Israel movement, but it is not all antisemitism. And I think there is a danger when the two things are equalised, when they are made equivalent because, as I said many times, criticising Israel is legitimate; antisemitism is not.

  In this climate of war and growing radicalisation, can one be critical without being accused of Antisemitism?

  I am critical of Israel and I am Jewish. I am not antisemitic; I am critical of Israel. It’s doing terrible things. I think Israel has committed war crimes. I think it is also important to note that Hamas committed war crimes. And Hezbollah committed war crimes.

  The issue of antisemitism remains, and for this reason, should not be manipulated for political or military purposes.

  For sure! I think it endangers Jews around the world when Israel equates antisemitism and criticism of Israel.

  Is it possible in your opinion that the leadership is using the event in Amsterdam to cover up the controversy about the Feldstein affair and Bibi-leaks? This is a very big issue.

  Entirely possible! We have  a manipulative government that uses a propaganda machine that spreads poison and creates divisions within Israeli society, and around the world. And [this] creates a situation where the government is doing things that shouldn’t be acceptable and is turning public attention away from it.

  What is your opinion about this political scandal diverting talks about the hostages, ensure their failure and speed up the war? What do  you think about that?

  Look! Netanyahu was head of the government on the October 7 [2023). He was responsible for funding Hamas; he was responsible for everything that is taking place while he is in government. He is refusing to take responsibility, refusing to create the commission of inquiry. A normal prime minister in a democracy, on October 8, would have resigned. But Netanyahu insists on staying in power, he and his cronies, and his corrupt, right-wing fanatic government. And they will do everything to prevent themselves from taking any responsibility for what is going. They are destroying the country, they are destroying the economy, they are destroying the capability of Israel to defend itself. There are reserve soldiers who are serving  more than 200 days, while tens of thousands of other Israelis who are ultra-orthodox don’t get drafted at all. This is all beyond what should be acceptable.

  Today Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that next year Israel would annex the whole West Bank. This is against international law.

  Of course! They are turning Israel into a pariah state that is forcing the international community and friends of Israel to confront Israel in a way they don’t want to. The friends of Israel in Europe do not want to turn Israel into an enemy state, but the government is doing that.

  Does this have a political purpose or is there a fanatical religious goal?

  Ben-Gvi and Smotrich have a messianic view; that the October 7 event was a miracle given to us by God in order to enable us to expand the entire land of Israel, get rid of the Palestinians, and settle the whole land. This is their messianic view. They are insane; they believe that they are acting in the name of God on Earth.

  You played a big role in the negotiation for the release of Private Gilad Shalit. Today, is there some room to negotiate the release of Israeli hostages or is this issue secondary for the government?

  [The issue] is secondary for the government, it is secondary for Netanyahu. If they wanted to bring the hostages home, they could have brought them home a long time ago. The price is known. The war in Gaza has to end and Israel has to withdraw from Gaza. And this, Netanyahu refuses to do. And the war in Lebanon will stop when the war in Gaza stops. According to the Israeli army, they have accomplished their military mission both in Gaza and Lebanon, and they could withdraw at any time.

  Hamas seems to be open to shared control of the Gaza Strip with Fatah. Is this a positive sign in some way? What about the international community? What do you think of the Trump factor?

  No! It is a delay tactic because Abbas cannot go into Gaza, not the Palestinian Authority not Fatah. Hamas cannot continue to control Gaza in any way. If it does, there won’t be any international support for rebuilding Gaza or for sending peacekeeping troops to Gaza, not Arab, not international. There needs to be a non-Hamas, non-Fatah government there, which is affiliated with the Palestinian authority in that it appoints at least the head of the government. Abbas does. Because there is no other legal way of doing it. And there needs to be, eventually, Palestinian unity. One of the jobs [for] the new government that will run Gaza is to prepare Gaza and the West Bank also for elections, two, three years down the road. The international community is very weak. We’ll see if Donald Trump changes that. Everyone is a bit nervous about Trump, about what Trump might do because no one knows. Probably Trump doesn’t know. It is too early and he is too unpredictable. There needs to be more international engagement in making sure this war is the last Israeli-Palestinian war. We can’t keep on doing this.

  What about Israeli society, a year after the attack? Is it more radicalised; is it harder to hold talks? When will healing begin in Israeli society?

  I don't really believe Israeli society is more radicalised. I do believe it is more divided, and people more anxious and living in trauma. And in the absence of any kind of positive thinking about a peace process or negotiations, the public is responding to the reality in which they live where they don’t see anyone on the Palestinian side, or almost anyone, standing up and say: “Let’s end this; let’s make peace.” And there is no one in the Israeli political scene who’s talking about peace. So the public is responding to the reality of being in war, of being attacked, of seeing its soldiers die every day, of living in the trauma of October 7. This is temporary, this will pass when there is a change of leadership, when there are new ideas, when the Palestinians begin to demonstrate that they are interested in living in peace. This is all temporary. The healing doesn’t begin until the hostage issue is finished. That’s number one, and then healing will take decades. It’s not something that takes overnight. And it will all depend on having new leaders and a new government, and people who offer some hope because right now many young people in Israel are looking around and saying: “I have no future here.”

  What about the Abraham Accords? What about Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman using the word genocide?

  The most important country is Saudi Arabia. The question is whether Saudi Arabia is going to use its influence in a more determined way than it did in the past. If the Saudis make conditional any normalisation with Israel, not on the path to Palestinian statehood, but to Palestinian statehood itself, then the Saudis can have a lot of influence. And this depends first on them, and also depends on what the United States does with the Saudis. You have to remember that 70 per cent of Saudi citizens are under the age of 30. They are all young people, they are all on social media; they see the reality of Gaza, and he (the crown price) cannot ignore what people on the Saudi street think, feel, and are saying.

  What do you think about Qatar, and its step back from its apparent support for Hamas?

  It is interesting that they did it now. I wrote more than half a year ago that they should have done the same thing. Of course, this needs to be coordinated with Egypt. And it should be used as a leverage to bring the parties back into negations. They didn’t stop negotiating. They said: “We are waiting until the sides demonstrate that they are serious.”  link

  
  
•  The Biden administration announced on Tuesday that it would not withhold weapon shipments to Israel, as a 30-day deadline for Jerusalem to significantly alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza expired.

  US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel acknowledged during a press briefing that Israel implemented some — but not all — of the steps demanded by the US in an October 13 letter giving Jerusalem a month to act or risk being deemed out of compliance with US law, which bars offensive weapons from being transferred to countries that block aid from reaching civilians.

  Nonetheless, Patel stated that the US has not, at this time, “made an assessment that there that the Israelis are in violation of US law.”The determination came less than a week after Donald Trump won the presidential election, significantly slashing the Biden administration’s leverage over Israel, given that the president-elect would surely reverse any decision to withhold weapon shipments to Israel upon returning to office in just over two months.

  Patel pointed to steps taken by Israel over the past 30 days, including reopening the Erez Crossing into northern Gaza; opening the Kissufim Crossing into central Gaza; waiving certain customs requirements for aid organizations; opening new aid delivery routes within Gaza; resuming aid delivery to northern Gaza after a near-month-long siege; expanding the the coastal Muwasi humanitarian zone inland; and instituting periodic humanitarian pauses.

  “The ultimate hope is that through these steps, some conditions have been created in which we can see things like additional aid, additional food trucks, additional measures being taken that ultimately will be beneficial to the Palestinian people in Gaza,” Patel said.
  

  The State Department spokesperson stressed the US will continue monitoring Israel’s compliance with American law and will act accordingly if it deems that Jerusalem has failed to do so.

  Patel was hammered repeatedly by reporters questioning how the Biden administration could determine that Israel has not violated US law if it was not meeting the standards set out in the letter.
  

  Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote in the October 13 letter that the US wanted to see 350 aid trucks enter Gaza every day. October ended seeing fewer trucks enter Gaza than any other month this year, with an Israeli military body putting the daily average at 57. Patel revealed that from November 1 to November 9, just 404 trucks crossed into Gaza.

  “What matters most is not just a specific action or a specific item, but the totality of progress,” Patel claimed, while saying the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains “dire.”

  The State Department spokesperson added that had it not been for US intervention, the handful of steps Israel did take over the past month would not have happened. Moreover, he noted that the US remains the world’s largest provider of aid to the Palestinians.

  Earlier Tuesday, aid groups issued a report requested by the Biden administration, which determined that Israel had failed to meet the vast majority of the requirements laid out by Blinken and Austin in their letter.
  

  The report listed 19 measures of compliance with the US demands. It said that Israel had failed to comply with 15 and only partially complied with four.

  The report was co-signed by Anera, Care, MedGlobal, Mercy Corps, the Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, Refugees International and Save the Children.
  

  In the October 13 letter, the US gave Israel 30 days to, among other things, allow a minimum of 350 truckloads of goods into Gaza each day; open a fifth crossing; allow people in coastal tent camps to move inland before the winter; and ensure access for aid groups to northern Gaza. It also called on Israel to halt legislation that would hinder operations of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, which has come under fire after several of its employees were found to have participated in Hamas’s October 7 onslaught that sparked the ongoing war.

  Aid levels remain far below the US benchmarks. Access to northern Gaza remains restricted, and Israel passed the legislation against UNRWA into law.

  Israel launched a major offensive last month in the north, where it said Hamas had regrouped. The operation has displaced tens of thousands and killed hundreds, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose unverified figures don’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.

  Through October and the first days of November, Israel allowed no food to enter several towns in north Gaza, where despite evacuation orders tens of thousands of civilians have stayed.
  

  Last week, Israel allowed 11 trucks to go to Beit Hanoun, one of the north’s hardest-hit towns. But the World Food Organization said troops at a checkpoint forced its trucks to unload their cargo before reaching shelters in the town.

  On Tuesday, COGAT — the military agency in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza — announced it allowed a new delivery of food and water to Beit Hanoun the day before. The WFP said that while it tried to dispatch 14 trucks, only three made it to the town “due to delays in receiving authorization for movement and crowds along the route.” When it tried to deliver the rest on Tuesday, Israel denied it permission, it said.

  Aid into all of Gaza plummeted in October, when just 34,000 tons of food entered, only a third of the previous month, according to Israeli data.

  UN agencies say even less actually gets through because of Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and lawlessness that makes it difficult to collect and distribute aid on the Gaza side.
  

  COGAT said 900 truckloads of aid are sitting uncollected on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south.
  

  “Before the organizations give out grades, they should focus on distributing the aid that awaits them,” COGAT said in response to the aid groups’ report.

  Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, said the military was not coordinating movements for aid trucks to reach the stacked-up cargos. “If we are not provided a safe passage to go and collect it … it will not reach the people who need it,” she said.

  COGAT blamed the drop in October on closures of the crossings for the Jewish high holidays and memorials marking the anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 onslaught. An Israeli official also pointed to theft by Hamas and organized crime families in Gaza.

  The United States has rushed billions of dollars in military aid to Israel during the war while pressing it to allow more aid into Gaza.

  “There must be no forcible displacement, nor policy of starvation in Gaza,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council on Tuesday.

  She also said “thanks to intervention by the United States, Israel has taken some important steps” toward addressing “the undisputed humanitarian crisis” in the Strip.

  “Still, Israel must ensure its actions are fully implemented — and its improvements sustained over time.”  link

• IDF said probing possible violations of international law by troops in northern Gaza 
  The IDF is reportedly investigating possible violations of international law by Israeli forces amid a new offensive in the northern Gaza Strip.
  According to a report by the Haaretz daily, the IDF’s high-level General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism is looking into 16 separate incidents between October 21 and November 2 in northern Gaza.
  The mechanism is an independent military body responsible for investigating unusual incidents during the war. It has probed numerous incidents since October 7, 2023.

• The National Security Council denies a report that the IDF investigation into the hours leading up to the Hamas invasion on October 7 found that the council received alerts on suspicious Hamas activities that night.

  According to the report by Yedioth Ahronoth, at 2 a.m. on the morning of October 7, the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate sent updates to the chief of staff and to the Prime Minister’s Office intelligence officer about Hamas operatives activating Israeli phone SIMs, a sign they could be set to attack. At the same time, IDF intelligence noted that Hamas had done the same thing during an exercise the year before.

  An hour later, the report said, intelligence officers updated the NSC situation room about the worrying signs from Gaza, including an unspecified “meaningful indication.” It said that at 3:55 a.m., the NSC received another update that Hamas seemed to be moving into emergency mode.

  IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi held a situational assessment at 4:00 a.m. about the developments in Gaza. The PMO received the main findings.

  The NSC rejects the report. “Contrary to Ronen Bergman’s false publication in Yedioth Ahronoth,” it says in a statement, “no warning was given to the NSC in the early morning of October 7.”

  The report and the denial come as the PMO is being investigated over alleged attempts to falsify the records of conversations in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office ahead of the Hamas attack, including blackmailing the aforementioned intelligence officer to coerce him to change the minutes of phone calls.

The Region and the World

•  The US military says it has conducted strikes against an Iranian-backed militia group’s weapons storage facility in Syria.
  “These strikes were in response to a rocket attack on US personnel at Patrol Base Shaddadi. There was no damage to US facilities and no injuries to US or partner forces during the attack,” the US military says in a statement. 
  
  

Survivors

Personal Stories

  Taken captive: Rom Braslavski, rave guard who saved others

19-year-old was wounded in both of his hands at the Supernova desert party on October 7

Rom Braslavski, 19, was working as a security guard when he was taken captive by Hamas terrorists from the Supernova desert rave on October 7.

The Jerusalem resident was one of several security guards at the party who tried to help and save others as the wave of terrorists launched an assault on the event during the early morning hours.

He was in touch with his mother around 10:30 a.m., telling her that he was okay, located in a situation room, and that he would be home in a few hours.

Rom got two young women to safety that morning and then was wounded in both hands, according to other survivors who saw him.

He continued to try and save others. He was last seen at 1:30 p.m. when helping a young woman get out of a garbage container where she was hiding and to a safer location.

That was around 1:30 p.m., after which Rom disappeared, not seen by anyone at the party.

His family was later notified by the authorities that Rom was taken hostage by Hamas.

‘Remember my brother, pray and speak his name’ says family of 20-year old hostage in Gaza

Security guard Rom Braslavski was kidnapped from the Nova Festival on October 7th by Hamas.
On a solidarity mission to London, his older brother Amit says 'It's very tough. We need him back'.

The brother of a 20-year old Israeli man captive in Gaza spent several days in London in a bid to raise awareness of the hostages still held by Hamas.

Rom Braslavski from Jerusalem was working as a security guard when he was kidnapped from the Nova Festival on October 7th. He is one of three sons to parents, Tamar and Ofir Braslavski, alongside 25-year old Amit and 12-year old Ziv. Rom turned 20 years old whilst in captivity.

Last Tuesday, Amit travelled to the UK with his cousin Adam Hagag. Together they visited families, Chigwell and Hampstead Jewish communities, Hasmonean School and private homes to talk about Rom’s plight and the family crisis.
On October 7th, Rom was working as a security guard at the Nova festival when the terrorists struck.

Witnesses said that whilst Rom had several opportunities to save himself, he instead helped save others and hid dead bodies, so that Hamas could not take them.

A young woman who survived the attack and intense, follow up surgery, thanks to Rom, remembers vividly his “wide smile and words of comfort”.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bring_rom_home

At 10am when he was able to contact home, he lied to his mother so that she wouldn’t worry. He told her that he was with a policeman; that he was safe.

The next day, on October 8th, Amit trawled through the carnage of the Nova festival site searching for his brother. It was two months before the IDF was able to confirm Rom was taken alive as a hostage. None of the hostages released after October 7th say they saw him.

Rom’s parents are a divorced, two-home, low income family. Rom shares a room with Ziv in his mother’s home and the elder brothers both worked from the age of 14 years old to supplement the household income.

Rom-Braslavski

Amit describes his brother as “fun, and determined”, someone who “loves music, plays the drums and has a close circle of friends, his best being Ziv, his roommate of 12 years.”

Amit speaks about his brother Rom at a London home.

He added: “My little brother and Rom are very connected. They shared a bed. They shared a room. And he hasn’t come back.”

Speaking to London supporters with his cousin Adam by his side, Amit played an old voice recording of Rom, where he can be heard speaking in Hebrew, saying that he would like to go to a hotel with all his family, go to the dining room and drink lots of Coke Zero ‘on the room’ (sic).

Amit

Translating the recording, Amit said: “He’s humble. This is the kid that wants Coke Zero on the room. This is his character. He’s not afraid to sleep outside. He’s not afraid to just jump in the sea. He loved life. He loved music. He loves chocolate Oreos. I wish he was home. I don’t want to wait much longer. I don’t know how the families survive this because it’s a very tough situation. My mother and dad are suffering. It’s very, very tough right now. So we need him back. We believe there will be a good end to this story.”

Claudia Salem, whose family hosted Amit and Adam, told Jewish News: “It’s been nine months since Rom was kidnapped into Gaza from the Nova festival. For Amit to be in my home in London, surrounded by 100 Jewish men, women and teens meant so much to him.

https://www.instagram.com/bring_rom_home

“We listened, we understood his pain and promised we will continue to support him by talking about Rom, donating money to financially supporting his family with their needs and to pray for his safe return. Amit is a simple young man with one wish. For his brother to be returned home, to share his bed with his 12 year old brother and see his parents live on with their lives. If anything this visit gave him strength, hope and power to keep positive. I saw the pain in his eyes and I’m so grateful that we showed up for him and his family”.

Amit asks those who wish to support his family to pray, have faith and speak the name: Rom ben Tamar Noa, to share his story and be his voice on social media.

To offer financial support to Rom’s family, click here.

Dark Legacy - The Abandonment of October 7th Hostages

The Cruelty and the Compassion

Haim Be’er

Novelist.

All through this evening (June 29, 2024), the last issue of the Ha’aretz weekend supplement is in front of me, open to an article which I haven’t yet read, translated from the New York Times, about processes that take place in the brains of new fathers after the birth of their child, and another book that I’ve been reading with fervency and dismay for a few days now.

The book is Professor Sagit Mor’s Captivity is the Hardest of All: Captives, Captivity and the Discourse of Captivity in the Literature of the Sages, published five years ago. Falling captive, Mor writes at the opening of her book, has been part of the human experience since the very beginning. She continues to list some well-known historical cases, and some that are less well-known, in relation to capturing and holding captive women and men, not only in wars, but also by criminals and creditors wishing to enforce repayment. She describes the experiences of captives who are constantly under danger, whose basic control of their bodies has been taken away from them, who are suffering from hunger and thirst, from sleep deprivation and the absence of the most basic conditions for sustaining their bodies, and who are subject to their captors’ schemes and whims, torture and abuse. I keep reading, knowing that what was true then is also true today, until I come to the words of Amora Raba on the order and degrees of human suffering, which conclude with the pronouncement that death by hunger is worse than death by sword and that captivity is worse of all, and with the elevation of the mitzvah of the redemption of captives above all other mitzvahs: “Great Mitzvah! Tremendous Mitzvah!”

As I’m reading the book that analyzes the societal, communal, and Jewish legal stance toward captives and captivity during the period of the Mishnah and the Talmud, I occasionally glance at the Haaretz weekend supplement. It shows a photograph taken in 1980 by one of the government press office photographers. A young, black-haired father is holding a little girl about two years old in his arms, bringing her face close to his, so that her forehead sinks into his eye socket, and smiling at her with love. I cannot but feel empathy towards him, from whom so much warmth, devotion, and closeness are flowing towards the little girl. The man is Benjamin Netanyahu. The little girl is his daughter, Noa.

As I read the book and glance at this photograph, the image of the Prime Minister appears time after time on the TV screen. A shadow of a satanic smirk, exuding contempt and disgust, passing at the corner of his mouth; his narrow, shrunken eyes glimpse at us, his subjects, with cold, blood- freezing cruelty. He is filled with resentment, callousness, and hatred.

This man, I say to myself, has no pity, no compassion for the elderly languishing in damp, dark, and moldy tunnels, for the women whose treatment by their captors I dare not think about, for the young men. “Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel like the ostrich in the wilderness.” (Lamentations 4:3).

     Benjamin, son of Zila and Benzion, please, kindly, make the effort to return - if only for a short while - to that hour of grace in which you held your little daughter in your arms and were so compassionate and merciful, and to show now too a measure of compassion, of humanity, of mercy. I have no doubt you could do it, if only you wanted to.

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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