π️Lonny's War Update- October 494, 2023 - February 11, 2025 π️
π️Day 494 that 76 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
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!ΧΧΧ Χ Χ¦ΧΧΧ Χ’Χ Χ©ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧΧ€ΧΧ ΧΧΧΧͺ
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
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Hostage Updates
IDF says Shlomo Mansour was killed on Oct. 7 and his body taken to Gaza
IDF representatives this morning updated the family of hostage Shlomo Mansour, that he was killed during the October 7, 2023, onslaught, the military says.
Mansour was murdered in Kibbutz Kissufim and his body was taken by Hamas terrorists to the Gaza Strip, where it remains held.
His death was declared by a panel of health experts and members of the rabbinate, following intelligence the IDF says it obtained in recent months.
Of the 76 remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, the IDF has confirmed the deaths of 36. Link Shlomo is on the list of hostages to be returned in Phase 1. He was also one of the 8 assumed dead of the list of 33 but there was still hope that he was alive. Gadi Mozes was also assumed to have been killed and in the list of 8.
Currently, of the 76 hostages still in captivity, 36 have been declared dead or killed and another (now) 7 assumed dead. That means that of the 76, only 33 are assumed to still be alive.
Family members of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip and activists protest for the release of all the hostages in Gaza, outside the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 11, 2025. ( Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Hamas says hostage-prisoner exchange scheduled for Saturday will be delayed over alleged Israeli truce violations
Hamas intends to delay the next hostage-prisoner exchange slated for Saturday, announces a spokesman for the terror group.
Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Hudhaifa Kahlout — known by the nom de guerre Abu Obeida — alleges that Israel has not fulfilled its obligations under the current ceasefire agreement over the past three weeks.
Abu Obeida claims Israel delayed the return of displaced Gazans to the Strip’s north and opened fire on them, and has also obstructed the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The terror group demands “retroactive compensation” for Israel’s alleged violations of the ceasefire, or it will not release hostages until further notice. link. Unfortunately, this falls right into the hands of Netanyahu and his extremist partners. He can now claim that Hamas is killing the deal during Phase 1 and therefore there is no reason to talk about Phase 2, which he doesn't want to begin with. He is once again dooming the living hostages to more horrendous suffering and death. We all saw last Saturday that the 3 returning hostages looking eerily like Holocaust camp survivors. This brought Netanyahu's false outrage at the condition of the hostages as though he didn't know and it was all new to him. Lies, lies, lies. He knew very well and knows all the details that are coming out about their tortuous captivity for 494 days and counting. But this knowledge and the sites of the returnees don't move him at all. He is without a soul and without a heart.
Today, in an interview, Sigi Cohen, mother of the hostage Elia Cohen (they live in my town) yelled for the politicians who vote against the deals to send their own children to replace her son and the other hostages, if they think they are worth forgetting about and being left to die. If it was possible, we should send them, the politicians themselves, starting with Netanyahu to replace the hostages and see how they fare.
- Democrats chair slams ‘failed’ coalition for not freeing hostages sooner: ‘If the deal falls — the government falls’
The government “has lost its humanity,” The Democrats chairman Yair Golan declares, arguing that “a government that does not see its citizens, that does not feel their pain, that does not work with all its might to save them – is not only a failed government. It is a criminal government.”
The testimonies of freed hostages regarding their suffering in Gaza are “an indictment” of the government, he says, citing reports that they were “hung by their feet, constantly chained, starving, humiliated, without daylight, unable to stand or move.”
“Friends, every additional day that the hostages are left behind is another crime. Every hour of delay is a sentence of torture and death. This government knew – from the prime minister to the last minister – everyone knew. They knew in what inhuman conditions the hostages were being held. They knew, saw, heard — and chose to abandon them.”
“Never has the people of Israel faced a government” that is “so cruel, so un-Zionist and certainly not Jewish,” he adds, calling on the leaders of industry, academia, and unions “to take action” and “make it clear together that if the deal falls — the government falls.”
‘What are you surprised about?’: Lapid says PM knew Gaza hostages were ‘in cages, starving skeletons’
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid (center) attends a rally in Tel Aviv demanding a deal to free the hostages held in Gaza, August 24, 2024. (Courtesy)
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he boasts that he maximized the number of hostages released by Hamas and says that the terror group only agreed to negotiate and accept “the deal I brought” after significant military pressure.
“You just said here on the podium that you were shocked by the sight of the hostages who were released on Saturday,” Lapid says in his response to Netanyahu’s remarks.
“I just don’t understand why you were shocked, you knew that was their situation. The security establishment has said time and time again, that they are in cages, starving skeletons — you knew…
“You knew, the whole government knew, the whole cabinet knew,” Lapid continues.
He urges Netanyahu to come with him to Hostages Square in Tel Aviv to show that he cares and “did not decide to leave them there to die because of political considerations.”
Freed hostage Ofer Calderon says he was ‘held in tunnels, experienced severe hunger,’ calls for release of all captives
Recently freed hostage Ofer Calderon says he was “held in tunnels without seeing daylight, had no access to media, experienced severe hunger conditions, went entire months without showering or receiving proper care” during his captivity in Gaza.
Calderon says that “immediately after the first deal [in November 2023], the conditions of my captivity and those of many other hostages severely deteriorated and became brutal.”
“We must not stop the current deal and must continue working to free all the hostages,” he adds, in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“Hamas is a cruel enemy who will not hesitate to harm the hostages left behind. We must get everyone out as quickly as possible.”
Calderon was released on February 1 as part of the current ceasefire deal after spending 484 days as a hostage in Gaza.
Family of twins held hostage in Gaza, Gali and Ziv Berman, say they have received signs of life
Ziv and Gali Berman were taken captive by Hamas terrorists from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)The family of twins Gali and Ziv Berman, 27, who are hostages in Gaza, say they have received signs of life from the brothers.
“We take a deep breath, but we know whose hands they are in and how much danger their lives are in,” the family says in a message to the residents of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, from where they were taken hostage on October 7, 2023.
No further details were immediately available.
Trump urges ending Gaza ceasefire if all hostages not released by noon Saturday
After Hamas says it will delay release of hostages, US president says he will call for resumption of war if all captives not freed by weekend; threatens to cut aid to Jordan, Egypt
US President Donald Trump suggested Monday that Israel end a ceasefire in Gaza and resume fighting if all remaining hostages are not freed by the end of the week, after the Hamas terror group said it was delaying the release of hostages slated for Saturday, placing fresh doubts on whether the fraught truce will hold.
Speaking to reporters, Trump conceded that Israel might want to override him on the ultimatum and the Saturday noon deadline, adding that he might speak to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But expressed fears for the fates of those still being held captive, predicting that many would not survive if not released in the coming days.
“As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock, I think it’s an appropriate time. I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I’d say they ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday,” Trump said.
His comments came hours after Hamas announced that it intended to delay the next release of Israeli hostages planned for Saturday, “until further notice,” in response to what it claimed were Israeli violations of the ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal.
In his latest free-wheeling session in the Oval Office, Trump expressed frustration with the physical condition of three male hostages freed Saturday looking gaunt and emaciated, and with mental abuse they were subjected to. The president appeared to back off support for the staggered releases agreed to by Israel and Hamas under the truce, despite having been a driving force behind the ceasefire and hostage release deal before it went into effect on January 19.
“We want them all back,” he said, rejecting releases “in drips and drabs.”
“Based on what I saw over the last two days, they’re not going to be alive for long,” Trump added. “Saturday at 12 o’clock, and after that, it’s going to be a different ball game.” Full article trump has stated that his “hell” is to flatten every building left Standing, totally destroy Gaza that fits his plan to transfer the population and start rebuilding Gaza from scratch. That fits perfectly with the vision of the extremist messianic partners of Netanyahu and Netanyahu would consider doing this except for one “little problem”- the 76 hostages still in GazaFar-right leaders embrace Trump call to return to war if hostages not freed
Israeli far-right leaders embrace US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Israel end a ceasefire in Gaza and resume fighting if all remaining hostages are not freed by the end of the week.
“Everybody, now,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posts on X.
Otzma Yehudit leader MK Itamar Ben Gvir says “Trump is correct. Return to destroying now.”
“As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock, I think it’s an appropriate time. I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I’d say they ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday,” Trump told reporters.
Hi comments came after the Hamas terror group said it was delaying the release of hostages slated for Saturday, placing fresh doubts on whether the fraught truce will hold. Link the big lie here is that, regardless of the hostages released, they want to go back to the war
Gaza and the South
Hostage Updates
IDF says Shlomo Mansour was killed on Oct. 7 and his body taken to Gaza
IDF representatives this morning updated the family of hostage Shlomo Mansour, that he was killed during the October 7, 2023, onslaught, the military says.
Mansour was murdered in Kibbutz Kissufim and his body was taken by Hamas terrorists to the Gaza Strip, where it remains held.
His death was declared by a panel of health experts and members of the rabbinate, following intelligence the IDF says it obtained in recent months.
Of the 76 remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip, the IDF has confirmed the deaths of 36. Link Shlomo is on the list of hostages to be returned in Phase 1. He was also one of the 8 assumed dead of the list of 33 but there was still hope that he was alive. Gadi Mozes was also assumed to have been killed and in the list of 8.
Currently, of the 76 hostages still in captivity, 36 have been declared dead or killed and another (now) 7 assumed dead. That means that of the 76, only 33 are assumed to still be alive.
Family members of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip and activists protest for the release of all the hostages in Gaza, outside the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 11, 2025. ( Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Hamas says hostage-prisoner exchange scheduled for Saturday will be delayed over alleged Israeli truce violations
Hamas intends to delay the next hostage-prisoner exchange slated for Saturday, announces a spokesman for the terror group.
Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Hudhaifa Kahlout — known by the nom de guerre Abu Obeida — alleges that Israel has not fulfilled its obligations under the current ceasefire agreement over the past three weeks.
Abu Obeida claims Israel delayed the return of displaced Gazans to the Strip’s north and opened fire on them, and has also obstructed the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The terror group demands “retroactive compensation” for Israel’s alleged violations of the ceasefire, or it will not release hostages until further notice. link. Unfortunately, this falls right into the hands of Netanyahu and his extremist partners. He can now claim that Hamas is killing the deal during Phase 1 and therefore there is no reason to talk about Phase 2, which he doesn't want to begin with. He is once again dooming the living hostages to more horrendous suffering and death. We all saw last Saturday that the 3 returning hostages looking eerily like Holocaust camp survivors. This brought Netanyahu's false outrage at the condition of the hostages as though he didn't know and it was all new to him. Lies, lies, lies. He knew very well and knows all the details that are coming out about their tortuous captivity for 494 days and counting. But this knowledge and the sites of the returnees don't move him at all. He is without a soul and without a heart.
Today, in an interview, Sigi Cohen, mother of the hostage Elia Cohen (they live in my town) yelled for the politicians who vote against the deals to send their own children to replace her son and the other hostages, if they think they are worth forgetting about and being left to die. If it was possible, we should send them, the politicians themselves, starting with Netanyahu to replace the hostages and see how they fare.- Democrats chair slams ‘failed’ coalition for not freeing hostages sooner: ‘If the deal falls — the government falls’
The government “has lost its humanity,” The Democrats chairman Yair Golan declares, arguing that “a government that does not see its citizens, that does not feel their pain, that does not work with all its might to save them – is not only a failed government. It is a criminal government.”
The testimonies of freed hostages regarding their suffering in Gaza are “an indictment” of the government, he says, citing reports that they were “hung by their feet, constantly chained, starving, humiliated, without daylight, unable to stand or move.”
“Friends, every additional day that the hostages are left behind is another crime. Every hour of delay is a sentence of torture and death. This government knew – from the prime minister to the last minister – everyone knew. They knew in what inhuman conditions the hostages were being held. They knew, saw, heard — and chose to abandon them.”
“Never has the people of Israel faced a government” that is “so cruel, so un-Zionist and certainly not Jewish,” he adds, calling on the leaders of industry, academia, and unions “to take action” and “make it clear together that if the deal falls — the government falls.”
‘What are you surprised about?’: Lapid says PM knew Gaza hostages were ‘in cages, starving skeletons’
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid (center) attends a rally in Tel Aviv demanding a deal to free the hostages held in Gaza, August 24, 2024. (Courtesy)Opposition Leader Yair Lapid slams Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he boasts that he maximized the number of hostages released by Hamas and says that the terror group only agreed to negotiate and accept “the deal I brought” after significant military pressure.
“You just said here on the podium that you were shocked by the sight of the hostages who were released on Saturday,” Lapid says in his response to Netanyahu’s remarks.
“I just don’t understand why you were shocked, you knew that was their situation. The security establishment has said time and time again, that they are in cages, starving skeletons — you knew…
“You knew, the whole government knew, the whole cabinet knew,” Lapid continues.
He urges Netanyahu to come with him to Hostages Square in Tel Aviv to show that he cares and “did not decide to leave them there to die because of political considerations.”
Freed hostage Ofer Calderon says he was ‘held in tunnels, experienced severe hunger,’ calls for release of all captives
Recently freed hostage Ofer Calderon says he was “held in tunnels without seeing daylight, had no access to media, experienced severe hunger conditions, went entire months without showering or receiving proper care” during his captivity in Gaza.
Calderon says that “immediately after the first deal [in November 2023], the conditions of my captivity and those of many other hostages severely deteriorated and became brutal.”
“We must not stop the current deal and must continue working to free all the hostages,” he adds, in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“Hamas is a cruel enemy who will not hesitate to harm the hostages left behind. We must get everyone out as quickly as possible.”
Calderon was released on February 1 as part of the current ceasefire deal after spending 484 days as a hostage in Gaza.
Family of twins held hostage in Gaza, Gali and Ziv Berman, say they have received signs of life
Ziv and Gali Berman were taken captive by Hamas terrorists from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023 (Courtesy)The family of twins Gali and Ziv Berman, 27, who are hostages in Gaza, say they have received signs of life from the brothers.
“We take a deep breath, but we know whose hands they are in and how much danger their lives are in,” the family says in a message to the residents of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, from where they were taken hostage on October 7, 2023.
No further details were immediately available.
Trump urges ending Gaza ceasefire if all hostages not released by noon Saturday
After Hamas says it will delay release of hostages, US president says he will call for resumption of war if all captives not freed by weekend; threatens to cut aid to Jordan, Egypt
US President Donald Trump suggested Monday that Israel end a ceasefire in Gaza and resume fighting if all remaining hostages are not freed by the end of the week, after the Hamas terror group said it was delaying the release of hostages slated for Saturday, placing fresh doubts on whether the fraught truce will hold.
Speaking to reporters, Trump conceded that Israel might want to override him on the ultimatum and the Saturday noon deadline, adding that he might speak to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But expressed fears for the fates of those still being held captive, predicting that many would not survive if not released in the coming days.
“As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock, I think it’s an appropriate time. I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I’d say they ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday,” Trump said.
His comments came hours after Hamas announced that it intended to delay the next release of Israeli hostages planned for Saturday, “until further notice,” in response to what it claimed were Israeli violations of the ongoing hostage-ceasefire deal.
In his latest free-wheeling session in the Oval Office, Trump expressed frustration with the physical condition of three male hostages freed Saturday looking gaunt and emaciated, and with mental abuse they were subjected to. The president appeared to back off support for the staggered releases agreed to by Israel and Hamas under the truce, despite having been a driving force behind the ceasefire and hostage release deal before it went into effect on January 19.
“We want them all back,” he said, rejecting releases “in drips and drabs.”
“Based on what I saw over the last two days, they’re not going to be alive for long,” Trump added. “Saturday at 12 o’clock, and after that, it’s going to be a different ball game.” Full article trump has stated that his “hell” is to flatten every building left Standing, totally destroy Gaza that fits his plan to transfer the population and start rebuilding Gaza from scratch. That fits perfectly with the vision of the extremist messianic partners of Netanyahu and Netanyahu would consider doing this except for one “little problem”- the 76 hostages still in GazaFar-right leaders embrace Trump call to return to war if hostages not freed
Israeli far-right leaders embrace US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Israel end a ceasefire in Gaza and resume fighting if all remaining hostages are not freed by the end of the week.
“Everybody, now,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich posts on X.
Otzma Yehudit leader MK Itamar Ben Gvir says “Trump is correct. Return to destroying now.”
“As far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock, I think it’s an appropriate time. I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I’d say they ought to be returned by 12 o’clock on Saturday,” Trump told reporters.
Hi comments came after the Hamas terror group said it was delaying the release of hostages slated for Saturday, placing fresh doubts on whether the fraught truce will hold. Link the big lie here is that, regardless of the hostages released, they want to go back to the war
Gaza and the South
- Trump doubles down on permanent relocation for Palestinians, says no right to return to Gaza under his plan
US President Donald Trump says Palestinians would have no right to return to Gaza under his plan for the United States to take over the territory, in an interview excerpt released today.
“No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing,” Trump tells Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier when asked if the Palestinians would have the right to return.
“In other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them.”
He spoke of Gaza as “a big real estate site” that the US was “going to own.” link Trump is quite delusional with this entire idea and his delusions grow bigger with each day. He thinks that this is truly a big real estate deal. For him, it's like taking a building, forcing out the tenants, tearing down the building and putting up a tower where he can rake in the money. He is able to spit out the numbers of 1.9 million people that need to be moved but he has absolutely no idea what that means, nor does he care. And he thinks that he is going to get everyone to go along with it because he holds a lot of purse strings. Jordan and Egypt have very high dependencies on the US aid money but they would rather lose the money than to lose their regimes. And he thinks that he will be able to bully Saudi Arabia into the deal because they want the joint US-Saudi Defense pact and weapon sales. The fact that he got Netanyahu on board should not be seen as an accomplishment. It is quite the opposite as Netanyahu is now a partner and wants the entire State of Israel to be a partner in Ethnic Cleansing and genocide, as the permanent mass transfer of refugees is a crime against humanity and is part of the laws against genocide. The world cannot and will not keep silent just because it is coming from the new autocrat of the US
US President Donald Trump says Palestinians would have no right to return to Gaza under his plan for the United States to take over the territory, in an interview excerpt released today.
Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria
West Bank and Jerusalem and Terror attacks within Israel
- Israeli forces in northern West Bank detain prominent Hamas operative planning to carry out terror attacks
A prominent Hamas operative who was planning to carry out terror attacks was detained by Israeli forces in the Jenin area in the northern West Bank last night, authorities say.
Members of the Shin Bet security agency, the police’s Yamam counter-terrorism unit, and the IDF operated last night in the village of Silat al-Harithiya and detained several suspects who had been wanted by Israel for a long time.
The detained Palestinians “over the past few months had planned to carry out attacks on behalf of Hamas against Israeli civilians and IDF troops” in the West Bank, the Shin Bet, police, and IDF say in a joint statement.
Among those detained was Alaa al-Bitawi, a resident of Jenin, identified by the Shin Bet as “one of the heads of Hamas” in the Jenin camp.
A handgun and several explosive devices were seized during the arrest of al-Bitawi and the other suspects, the statement adds.
A prominent Hamas operative who was planning to carry out terror attacks was detained by Israeli forces in the Jenin area in the northern West Bank last night, authorities say.
Members of the Shin Bet security agency, the police’s Yamam counter-terrorism unit, and the IDF operated last night in the village of Silat al-Harithiya and detained several suspects who had been wanted by Israel for a long time.
The detained Palestinians “over the past few months had planned to carry out attacks on behalf of Hamas against Israeli civilians and IDF troops” in the West Bank, the Shin Bet, police, and IDF say in a joint statement.
Among those detained was Alaa al-Bitawi, a resident of Jenin, identified by the Shin Bet as “one of the heads of Hamas” in the Jenin camp.
A handgun and several explosive devices were seized during the arrest of al-Bitawi and the other suspects, the statement adds.
Politics and the War (general news)
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- In major win for Trump, PA’s Abbas signs decree ending ‘pay-to-slay’ system
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has signed a decree canceling legislation that provided payments to Palestinian security prisoners based on the length of their sentence and to the families of terrorists killed while carrying out an attacks, a Palestinian official confirms to The Times of Israel.
The decree states that those families and all others requiring welfare assistance will be eligible for stipends based solely on financial need, the Palestinian official says, confirming a report on the Walla news site.
While the effort to reform the prisoner payment system has been in the works for over a year and largely finalized during the Biden administration, Ramallah decided to hold off on announcing the move, preferring to save it as a goodwill gesture for the incoming Trump administration.
During the transition, top PA officials briefed their counterparts in the incoming Trump administration regarding their plan, two sources familiar told The Times of Israel earlier today.
However, those sources believed that the announcement had been put on the back burner following Trump’s declaration last week that he plans to take over Gaza. The Gaza proposal sent shockwaves throughout the Arab world, which is now in the midst of a full-throttled campaign to oppose the Trump idea.
Palestinian officials told The Times of Israel during the presidential transition process that Ramallah has learned lessons from the way it dealt with Trump during his first term. Abbas severed ties with the US after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017, less than a year after taking office. The US proceeded to broker the Abraham Accords, while the Palestinians were left out of the process.
As efforts to include Saudi Arabia in those accords intensified, Ramallah has worked to boost its ties with Riyadh, hoping that the latter will condition a deal with Israel on a credible and irreversible pathway to a future Palestinian state. Meanwhile, PA officials indicated to Trump aides that they would be prepared to use his 2020 peace plan as a basis for negotiations.
Today’s decree is Ramallah’s latest effort to improve ties with Washington and amounts to a major victory for Trump, who managed to secure a concession from the PA that repeated US administrations had worked to bring about. link This is actually very good news for everyone involved in peace and trying to resolve the Israel/Palestine conflict. It has always been a major stumbling block and when those opposing any talks with the PA would bring up the issue of 'pay to slay', there was never a good answer. Abu Mazen, who was Israel's best chance for a peace partner was always against armed conflict and he and Arafat were diametrically at odds over violence as a tool. Yet, he was compelled to continue paying Palestinians serving in Israeli prisons and the system was referred to as 'pay to slay'. I have no doubt that Abu Mazen would have been happy to end this system many years ago, but at the time, it would have meant political suicide and possibly even assassination. Doing so, finally removes this odios stumbling block on the road to making peace.
- Smotrich says while he’s ‘happy’ to see Gaza hostages returning, he still opposes moving to 2nd stage of deal
Speaking ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that while “there is no Jew who is not happy to see our brothers and sisters return home,” he still opposes moving on to the next stage of the ceasefire deal with Hamas.
“The most popular and easiest thing for us would have been to join the chorus and connect with the natural human and Jewish emotion and support the deal,” Smotrich tells reporters. But he argues that his responsibility as a national leader “requires me to oppose the abandonment of millions of citizens in the State of Israel and Jews around the world who will pay the heavy and terrible price of continuing the deal.” link This vile excuse for a human being, along with his equally vile friend Ben Gvir are proud that they have scuttled every possible deal between Nov 2023 and now and has vowed that he will not support going to phase 2 and will bring down the government if we go to phase 2 which means ending the war. He can give all the excuses in the world, but he doesn't give a damn about the hostages or their families. They are not from his constituency, nor do they go along with his messianic ideology. He is the same vile person who refused to see the film of horrors of the massacres of October 7 because he said he wants to sleep at night. He, unlike his coalition counterparts and the prime minister even went to Kibbutz Nir Oz (it took him over a year to get there) and, understandably showed shock and even some empathy (I don't think he is capable of empathy and am sure it was just an act). Kibbutz Nir Oz, which had 400 people on October 6, lost 1/4 of the kibbutz to murders and kidnapping. Smotrich assured the people he talked to on Nir Oz that his trip there would go into his decisions regarding hostage deals. Again, it was an act. He had no intention to think about all those who were killed and all those kidnapped when placing his vote against. He is biting at the bit now over Trump's ridiculous and illegal plan for Gaza. He dreams of getting rid of every Palestinian in Gaza first, then the West Bank and then getting rid of the Arab citizens of Israel and then building settlements all over the previous Palestinian areas. This is all he cares about.
- Father of IDF soldier killed on Oct. 7 says Hamas wished his daughter ‘Happy Birthday’ weeks before attack
In chilling testimony, Eyal Eshel, whose daughter Sgt. Roni Eshel was killed on the IDF’s Nahal Oz base on October 7, 2023, claims that weeks before the terror group’s onslaught, Hamas operatives had held up a sign wishing his daughter “Mazal Tov” on her birthday.
Eshel says his daughter had reported the incident to her superiors, but nothing was done about it, Ynet news reports.
He says this shows that Hamas knew intimate details about the Nahal Oz base and the surveillance soldiers who were stationed there.
“Hamas terrorists stood on the other side of the fence with a banner,” Eshel tells Ynet. “They knew about her birthday.”
Eyal Eshel, the father of the late Staff Sgt. Roni Eshel, testifying before an independent civilian commission investigating the events leading up to October 7, September 17, 2024. (Civilian Commission of Inquiry)“It illustrates that Hamas knew everything… They knew [the soldiers’] names in from communication networks, they listened and eavesdropped on them,” he says.
Hamas “came prepared and we lost because we didn’t even understand what they knew.”
According to Ynet, the IDF has yet to comment on Eshel’s claims.
The torched command center of the Nahal Oz IDF base, overrun by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, during a visit by relatives of slain lookout soldiers on December 19, 2023. (Courtesy/Eyal Eshel)Roni Eshel was killed on October 7, 2023, at age 19, along with 14 other surveillance troops during Hamas’s attack on the Nahal Oz base.
In the same attack, seven surveillance soldiers were abducted and taken as hostages into Gaza: Ori Megidish, who was rescued by the IDF during the early days of the war; Noa Marciano, who was killed in captivity; and Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Liri Albag, Agam Berger and Naama Levy, who were all released by Hamas and returned to Israel during the current ceasefire accord.
- In major win for Trump, PA’s Abbas signs decree ending ‘pay-to-slay’ system
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has signed a decree canceling legislation that provided payments to Palestinian security prisoners based on the length of their sentence and to the families of terrorists killed while carrying out an attacks, a Palestinian official confirms to The Times of Israel.
The decree states that those families and all others requiring welfare assistance will be eligible for stipends based solely on financial need, the Palestinian official says, confirming a report on the Walla news site.
While the effort to reform the prisoner payment system has been in the works for over a year and largely finalized during the Biden administration, Ramallah decided to hold off on announcing the move, preferring to save it as a goodwill gesture for the incoming Trump administration.
During the transition, top PA officials briefed their counterparts in the incoming Trump administration regarding their plan, two sources familiar told The Times of Israel earlier today.
However, those sources believed that the announcement had been put on the back burner following Trump’s declaration last week that he plans to take over Gaza. The Gaza proposal sent shockwaves throughout the Arab world, which is now in the midst of a full-throttled campaign to oppose the Trump idea.
Palestinian officials told The Times of Israel during the presidential transition process that Ramallah has learned lessons from the way it dealt with Trump during his first term. Abbas severed ties with the US after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017, less than a year after taking office. The US proceeded to broker the Abraham Accords, while the Palestinians were left out of the process.
As efforts to include Saudi Arabia in those accords intensified, Ramallah has worked to boost its ties with Riyadh, hoping that the latter will condition a deal with Israel on a credible and irreversible pathway to a future Palestinian state. Meanwhile, PA officials indicated to Trump aides that they would be prepared to use his 2020 peace plan as a basis for negotiations.
Today’s decree is Ramallah’s latest effort to improve ties with Washington and amounts to a major victory for Trump, who managed to secure a concession from the PA that repeated US administrations had worked to bring about. link This is actually very good news for everyone involved in peace and trying to resolve the Israel/Palestine conflict. It has always been a major stumbling block and when those opposing any talks with the PA would bring up the issue of 'pay to slay', there was never a good answer. Abu Mazen, who was Israel's best chance for a peace partner was always against armed conflict and he and Arafat were diametrically at odds over violence as a tool. Yet, he was compelled to continue paying Palestinians serving in Israeli prisons and the system was referred to as 'pay to slay'. I have no doubt that Abu Mazen would have been happy to end this system many years ago, but at the time, it would have meant political suicide and possibly even assassination. Doing so, finally removes this odios stumbling block on the road to making peace.
- Smotrich says while he’s ‘happy’ to see Gaza hostages returning, he still opposes moving to 2nd stage of deal
Speaking ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that while “there is no Jew who is not happy to see our brothers and sisters return home,” he still opposes moving on to the next stage of the ceasefire deal with Hamas.
“The most popular and easiest thing for us would have been to join the chorus and connect with the natural human and Jewish emotion and support the deal,” Smotrich tells reporters. But he argues that his responsibility as a national leader “requires me to oppose the abandonment of millions of citizens in the State of Israel and Jews around the world who will pay the heavy and terrible price of continuing the deal.” link This vile excuse for a human being, along with his equally vile friend Ben Gvir are proud that they have scuttled every possible deal between Nov 2023 and now and has vowed that he will not support going to phase 2 and will bring down the government if we go to phase 2 which means ending the war. He can give all the excuses in the world, but he doesn't give a damn about the hostages or their families. They are not from his constituency, nor do they go along with his messianic ideology. He is the same vile person who refused to see the film of horrors of the massacres of October 7 because he said he wants to sleep at night. He, unlike his coalition counterparts and the prime minister even went to Kibbutz Nir Oz (it took him over a year to get there) and, understandably showed shock and even some empathy (I don't think he is capable of empathy and am sure it was just an act). Kibbutz Nir Oz, which had 400 people on October 6, lost 1/4 of the kibbutz to murders and kidnapping. Smotrich assured the people he talked to on Nir Oz that his trip there would go into his decisions regarding hostage deals. Again, it was an act. He had no intention to think about all those who were killed and all those kidnapped when placing his vote against. He is biting at the bit now over Trump's ridiculous and illegal plan for Gaza. He dreams of getting rid of every Palestinian in Gaza first, then the West Bank and then getting rid of the Arab citizens of Israel and then building settlements all over the previous Palestinian areas. This is all he cares about.
- Father of IDF soldier killed on Oct. 7 says Hamas wished his daughter ‘Happy Birthday’ weeks before attack
In chilling testimony, Eyal Eshel, whose daughter Sgt. Roni Eshel was killed on the IDF’s Nahal Oz base on October 7, 2023, claims that weeks before the terror group’s onslaught, Hamas operatives had held up a sign wishing his daughter “Mazal Tov” on her birthday.
Eshel says his daughter had reported the incident to her superiors, but nothing was done about it, Ynet news reports.
He says this shows that Hamas knew intimate details about the Nahal Oz base and the surveillance soldiers who were stationed there.
“Hamas terrorists stood on the other side of the fence with a banner,” Eshel tells Ynet. “They knew about her birthday.”
Eyal Eshel, the father of the late Staff Sgt. Roni Eshel, testifying before an independent civilian commission investigating the events leading up to October 7, September 17, 2024. (Civilian Commission of Inquiry)“It illustrates that Hamas knew everything… They knew [the soldiers’] names in from communication networks, they listened and eavesdropped on them,” he says.
Hamas “came prepared and we lost because we didn’t even understand what they knew.”
According to Ynet, the IDF has yet to comment on Eshel’s claims.
The torched command center of the Nahal Oz IDF base, overrun by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, during a visit by relatives of slain lookout soldiers on December 19, 2023. (Courtesy/Eyal Eshel)Roni Eshel was killed on October 7, 2023, at age 19, along with 14 other surveillance troops during Hamas’s attack on the Nahal Oz base.
In the same attack, seven surveillance soldiers were abducted and taken as hostages into Gaza: Ori Megidish, who was rescued by the IDF during the early days of the war; Noa Marciano, who was killed in captivity; and Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Liri Albag, Agam Berger and Naama Levy, who were all released by Hamas and returned to Israel during the current ceasefire accord.
The Region and the World
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Personal Stories **"Exposed to the Worst of the Worst": The Tragedy of Uri, Who Fought on October 7, and His Family’s Struggle**
Sgt. Maj. Uri Epstein jumped into action on October 7 during his discharge leave, rushing to the Gaza border area, where he rescued civilians under fire and experienced "days of continuous fear and horror." After his release, he volunteered for reserve duty and guarded Hamas detainees at the Sde Teiman detention facility, but "he transformed from a cheerful, vibrant young man to someone withdrawn and quiet" — and ultimately took his own life. After a lengthy battle, he was partially recognized as a fallen soldier, but his family demands "official recognition, with a military grave marker." The Ministry of Defense stated: "Only a soldier killed during active service is entitled to a military burial."
"When we arrived at Nahal Oz on October 7, we were exposed to horrific scenes: numerous Israeli bodies lying on the ground, mutilated bodies of Hamas terrorists, burned houses, breached fences, pools of blood, and a heavy stench of death hung in the air." This is how one of the officers from the Givati Brigade, who served with Sgt. Maj. Uri Epstein in his final months in the IDF, testified before the Ministry of Defense regarding the petition filed by Uri’s parents, Shay and Hila, to have him recognized as a fallen IDF soldier.
Uri, from the settlement of Peduel in the Samaria region, was exposed to the most harrowing scenes in the Nahal Oz area on October 7 while fighting alongside his comrades during the massacre and the chaotic days that followed. Later, he volunteered for reserve duty, guarding Hamas detainees at the Sde Teiman detention facility. However, in April of last year, he could no longer bear the weight of his pain and took his own life — yet he was not fully recognized as a fallen IDF soldier, forcing his family to wage a symbolic and moral battle that reached the Supreme Court. Recently, Supreme Court Justice Alex Stein ruled that the state must respond to the petition within a relatively short timeframe of 21 days.
Uri’s parents, Shay and Hila Epstein, at his gravesite (Photo: Shaul Golan)
As mentioned, Uri took his own life a day after completing his reserve duty, just weeks after his young soul was burdened with some of the heaviest emotional weight a person can carry. On October 7, he and his comrades from the Givati Reconnaissance Unit rushed to Nahal Oz, where they were exposed to dozens of bodies strewn along the roadside. For days, they operated within the breached border fence under heavy fire, despite the fact that he and his comrades were technically on discharge leave from the IDF. When he was officially released from the army two months later, after completing his full service, he fell through the cracks regarding reserve duty and fought to enlist and contribute to the war effort.
Uri did not hesitate to take on an unglamorous but emotionally taxing mission, guarding Hamas detainees at the Sde Teiman facility, having personally witnessed the horrific results of their actions just four months earlier, while the war was still raging.
"After a month and a half there, he could no longer continue with the mission and withdrew from it, and then a change in his behavior began," his father, Shay, told Ynet and *Yedioth Ahronoth*. "From a happy, active, and vibrant young man, he became withdrawn and quiet. This wasn’t the Uri we knew all these years. He reached out to the Givati Alumni Association, where they helped him greatly after noticing his distress. He was immediately referred to NATAL (an Israeli trauma center), where he received two therapy sessions, and then they began discussing a third due to signs of PTSD."
However, Shay recounted, "On the day of the therapy session, he received a summons for reserve duty and, of course, reported for duty instead of going to NATAL. The next day, on Friday, Uri was with us at home in what we later understood was a farewell process." On Saturday, three days before Passover, Uri went to a quiet area near his home and took his own life. "We were in shock. We sat shiva for only one day because of the holiday, and people in the community immediately rallied to help us, with the head of the local council, Yossi Dagan, accompanying us every step of the way. We immediately approached the army to have him recognized as a fallen soldier but received a negative response. However, we didn’t want to delay the burial, and it was important to us that he be laid to rest without prolonging the process. He was buried next to the military section, but still without the military headstone we requested," the parents added.
First Sergeant Uri Epstein (Photo: Courtesy of the family)
This is where the infuriating saga began: The bereaved family was forced to hire the services of attorney Ran Cohen-Rochberger, a retired colonel, who was stunned to discover that initially, the IDF did not recognize any connection between Uri’s death and his military service, and the Ministry of Defense claimed it was "just another suicide." He said, "Unlike similar struggles, such as that of pilot Asaf Dagan, who took his own life after his reserve duty, here the family did not have leverage, like refusing to bury their son without a military ceremony. No one took responsibility for Uri’s death, and the Ministry of Defense only agreed to conduct a 'thorough investigation' after I pressured them. It’s a shame that things only move when a bereaved family, with its limited resources, begins to fight the bureaucratic system to secure its rights."
After the family’s attorney proved that Uri had served in the IDF just weeks before his suicide and during that time was exposed to the worst horrors any IDF soldier could face, by collecting affidavits and testimonies from his comrades and commanders, the defense establishment agreed to recognize the family as bereaved, but only partially: The family would receive a stipend similar to that of a fallen soldier’s family, but more akin to that of a victim of hostilities, through the National Insurance Institute. "The financial compensation is less important to us; what matters is the official and symbolic recognition by the IDF of Uri as a full-fledged fallen soldier, that he be included in military memorial ceremonies, that he remain part of the Givati family even as a fallen soldier, and that he have a military headstone," the parents requested. "The feeling is that the army simply wrote Uri off."
"We experienced days of continuous fear and horror. Uri functioned properly despite what he felt" (Photo: Courtesy of the family)
Full recognition of Uri as a fallen IDF soldier also includes psychological support for the family, should they need it, and full, supportive accompaniment like any bereaved family receives over the years. The Epstein family had to reach out to other families who had undergone similar struggles during the war, such as the Mizrahi and Dagan families, to learn from their methods of action. One of the Givati officers who served with Uri in his final months in the IDF testified before the Ministry of Defense: "When we arrived at Nahal Oz on October 7, we were exposed to horrific scenes: numerous Israeli bodies lying on the ground, mutilated bodies of Hamas terrorists, burned houses, breached fences, pools of blood, and a heavy stench of death hung in the air.
Uri and the rest of the team evacuated families from Kibbutz Nahal Oz to safety during those hours, and for three days afterward, Uri stood at the breaches in the border fence to prevent Hamas infiltrators from returning or crossing back into Gaza, with direct warnings of terrorists approaching him and his comrades, and under heavy mortar fire that landed near him. Even on the way to Nahal Oz, our bus came under massive gunfire. These were days of continuous fear and horror, anxiety that gripped all of us. I personally chose to end my role in the unit due to the difficult experiences and sights we endured, and Uri functioned properly then despite the heavy stress he felt."
The officer emphasized, "I met Uri twice afterward at the Sde Teiman base (which also houses the Givati Brigade headquarters) while he was guarding Hamas detainees, and he seemed exhausted and emotionally drained, so different from the person I knew before the war." At the same time, other friends of Uri from the army and civilian life testified to how open and sociable he was, noting that during his year and a half at a pre-military academy, he never kept things bottled up.
"He was supposed to serve in the regular battalions, but a close friend pushed him to join the reconnaissance unit," his parents recalled. "We have no criticism of the good medical and psychological treatment Uri received from the military system. We cherish and love the IDF, but we want to preserve his memory in the dignified and deserving manner of a full-fledged fallen soldier, for future generations." Uri’s parents are not content with the battle for his recognition and have initiated the establishment of an emotional support space at the Eitan Pre-Military Academy in Maale Adumim, where he studied before his IDF service, under the name "Or Eitan" (Eitan’s Light), to assist any discharged soldier in need of psychological help.
In response, the Ministry of Defense stated: "The Ministry of Defense shares in the deep sorrow of the Epstein family. The family has been recognized under the law as a bereaved family by the Ministry of Defense after a connection was found between the circumstances of Uri’s death and his military service. The Ministry of Defense will continue to accompany the family. However, according to the law, only an IDF soldier killed during active military service is entitled to a military burial. Uri’s death occurred while he was a civilian, and therefore he is not entitled to a military burial." link
Dark Legacy - The Abandonment of October 7th Hostages
Thief of HopeProf. Eva IllouzSenior Research Fellow at the Van Leer Institute, and the Institute for Israeli Thought.
Bad leaders come in many shapes and colors. Neville Chamberlain was so naΓ―ve and cowardly that he let Hitler conquer Europe. The apathy and indecisiveness of Emperor Hirohito of Japan caused his country to face disaster during WWII. Suharto, the second president of Indonesia, was not only an authoritative leader, but also a criminal who embezzled between 15-30 billion dollars of his country's budget during his rule. Evil leaders do indeed come in many shapes and colors.What is the shape and color of Netanyahu? Netanyahu will be remembered as a leader devoid of respect and devoid of love. Even murderous tyrants are sometimes capable of showing an emotional bond to their nation, to the masses who attend their rallies, to their people in times of mourning. October 7th was a clear and unique opportunity for Netanyahu to express warmth and compassion, to be both humble and gentle. Most leaders would take advantage of the situation to act like the father of the nation. But Netanyahu will be remembered only for his evil incitement, his emotional frigidity, his robotic, mechanical appearance on October 7th, and his inability to express simple words of compassion and consolation on that day, ordinary expressions of humanity.After 9/11 in the United States, and after the 2015 terrorist attacks in France, then presidents George W. Bush and Francois Hollande knew how to console their people, share their sorrow with their citizens, and help them deal with the unknown. But not Netanyahu. He is incapable of acting in such a way because he doesn't care about other people. He never took responsibility for his catastrophic failure for the same reason that he didn't listen to the security forewarnings before the tragic date: he gambles with the lives of others when they do not directly serve his aims and ambitions.He degraded himself by refusing to take responsibility for the disaster. He degraded himself by choosing to sacrifice the hostages in order to wage an endless war and hold on to his seat. He degraded himself by robbing his people of a sense of a future. He will be remembered as the thief of mankind’s most precious and important asset: hope. Only hope makes it possible for us to imagine that what has been broken can be mended.But like all evil rulers, Netanyahu doesn't care about his loss of dignity, his cruelty or coldness. If he cared about all these, he wouldn’t have abandoned his people in their time of mourning.This will be our mission, to rebuild the hope and human values he stole.
Acronyms and Glossary
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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