🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 526, 2023 - March 15, 2025 🎗️
🎗️Day 526 that 59 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!אין נצחון עד שכל החטופים בבית
READ THE SPECIAL REPORT IN THE WAR AND POLITICS SECTION - "The Investigation of the Kibbutz Abandoned on 7/10"
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
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Hostage Updates
Hostage Updates
- Hostage families pen letter to Trump asking for help, say Israeli government has abandoned them
A group of released hostages meets US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on March 5, 2025. (White House/X)
Looking to ramp up the pressure on all parties working to negotiate a deal between Israel and Hamas, several families of hostages sent a letter to US President Donald Trump asking for his help, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
Lishi Miran Lavi, wife of hostage Omri Miran; Liran Berman, the older brother of twin hostages Gali and Ziv Berman; Dalia Kushner, sister-in-law of hostage Eitan Horn and released hostage Iair Horn; Yotam Cohen, brother of captive soldier Nimrod Cohen, and Einav Zangauker penned the missive, the report says.
“For more than a year and a half, the Israeli government has been playing with the lives of our loved ones,” they wrote. “Assurances were given and violated. Hopes were given and trampled on. While the prime minister and his government members evade, hide, and bide their time, our hostages are being severely tortured, and we saw the results of the terrible abuse when they returned to us in coffins or emaciated and tortured.”
Trump, who last week met with a group of freed hostages in the Oval Office, has reportedly been moved by the condition of some hostages who returned after months of being starved and abused by their captors.
Families of some hostages, as well as some of those who have been released, have increasingly extolled Trump as their hope and savior while accusing the government of being ineffective and bogged down in a coalition quagmire.
“When there is no one left to rely on, we turn to you, President Donald Trump,” they implored. You are the only person who can now get involved and bring an end to this nightmare.”
The families accused the government of “abandoning the lives of our sons and daughters out of stubborn insistence on positions that have no relation to a security threat” and of saying one thing to them behind closed doors and “telling a completely different story to the public.”
“If it doesn’t act immediately to return all the living hostages — we will reveal to the people everything that they said to us. All the broken promises
- We want all 59 [hostages] home. The plan is clear. Stage 2 is clear. One or two releases, no more. The price is heavy—no doubt—but we must pay it and bring them back now. Resuming the war is a death sentence for the living hostages. The war can be ended. Israel can withdraw from Gaza. Israel can release murderers of Israelis from prison. All these risks can be addressed after the hostages are returned. The day after in Gaza must be free from the threat of Hamas, but reaching that point requires a political move by Israel, its Arab neighbors, and the Palestinians. Israel’s moral obligation is to return the hostages who have been abandoned for far too long. (Gershon Baskin, March 14, 2025)
- Families of hostages are outraged: "We are in a horrific reality of passport selection" Efforts by the Washington administration to secure the early release of hostages with American citizenship have sparked deep concern among the families. "Now you are abandoned if you are a Jew with only Israeli citizenship," they say. Relatives of hostages who do not hold foreign citizenship are worried that Trump will be left out of the picture—after the release of American citizens.
Families of hostages are furious over recent reports about attempts by the Washington administration to prioritize the release of hostages with American citizenship, as we reported this evening on "Friday Studio." Families of hostages protested the emerging move: "We are in a horrific reality of passport selection. Now you are abandoned if you are a Jew with only Israeli citizenship."
Earlier today, Hamas stated that it is willing to release the kidnapped soldier Idan Alexander and four other kidnapped deceased individuals, all of whom hold American citizenship. Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, confirmed today that the U.S. has presented a mediation proposal. The proposal would extend the ceasefire and include discussions on ending the war.
Families of hostages protested the prioritization given to American hostages, saying: "We are in a horrific reality of passport selection, as if it wasn't enough that the Israeli government determined who is eligible to be on the list and who isn't, even though everyone is a humanitarian case. Now you are abandoned if you are a Jew with only Israeli citizenship."
The families, who hope the negotiations will bear fruit, added: "Netanyahu can prevent this horrific selection and bring everyone back in one phase; otherwise, he is sentencing them to death. Especially the soldiers who went out to defend this country and didn't know they also needed an American passport before going out to protect it."
Families who place their hopes mainly in the Washington administration fear that the release of Americans will leave President Trump out of the picture. Despite the administration's efforts to clarify that, in any case, the release of hostages with foreign citizenship would serve as a "bridge" to negotiations and discussions on the second phase of the deal, relatives of the hostages remaining in Hamas captivity are concerned about the recent moves being advanced by Trump's envoys. link
- Witkoff: Hamas is making a very bad bet that time is on its side — it is not
US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff goes public with many of the key terms of a “bridge proposal” he submitted on Wednesday in Doha, while dismissing as disingenuous the announcement Hamas made earlier today that it had agreed to release American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander.
Witkoff demands that Hamas immediately release the 20-year-old soldier, and suggests that he has given the terror group a deadline for doing so, warning of consequences if that unspecified date passes.
“Hamas is making a very bad bet that time is on its side. It is not. Hamas is well aware of the deadline, and should know that we will respond accordingly if that deadline passes,” the top Trump aide warns.
Witkoff makes the revelation in a rare statement, which begins by recalling US President Donald Trump’s recent ultimatum to Hamas to immediately release all hostages “or pay a severe price.”
Witkoff reveals that on Wednesday, he and White House National Security Council Mideast director Eric Trager arrived in Doha and presented a “bridge proposal” to extend the current Gaza ceasefire beyond Ramadan and Passover, which ends on April 19.
This “phase one extension” will allow for additional time for Israel and Hamas to negotiate a permanent ceasefire, he says.
The deal between Israel and Hamas inked in January was supposed to transition from phase one to phase two on March 2, but for nearly one month, Israel refused to hold negotiations on the terms of phase two, which would require Israel to fully withdraw from Gaza and agree to a permanent end to the war.
Accepting Israel’s stance, Witkoff’s “bridge proposal” offers that phase one be extended and that Hamas release living hostages in exchange for prisoners. Witkoff doesn’t reveal the exact numbers but says the swap will be “in accordance with previous formulas.”
An Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel yesterday that the deal would see five living hostages released.
The phase one extension offered by Witkoff would also see the resumption of humanitarian aid delivery into Gaza, which Israel halted at the original end date of the first phase about two weeks ago, with the subsequent backing of the Trump administration. link Let's not deceive ourselves into thinking that Witkoff's proposal is a good deal. It's not. It's actually a terrible deal that will leave most of the living hostages in captivity for an unknown amount of time and only after making this deal, will the sides begin to discuss the rest of the hostages. He also states that Hamas is making a mistake because 'time is not on their side'. In actuality, time is not on the side of the hostages who are dying as I write this. Every delay, every drawn out negotiation is a potential death sentence for the hostages. Trump makes threats that all hell will break loose but the only thing that he can do is to give Netanyahu the green light to destroy the rest of Gaza (which fits into Trump's Gaza plan), to totally cut off all humanitarian aid, to again move the Northern Gazans south, and further make their lives miserable. And all of these actions have reactions for the hostages. They could all end up being killed either by our bombs or by the Hamas terrorists guarding them. Trump's all hell breaking loose is what Netanyahu wants as opposing to end the war, but it risks all of the hostages' lives.
- Dermer, Netanyahu worked to prevent US-Hamas deal to free only American hostages
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his confidant Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer worked to prevent the US from reaching a new hostage deal with Hamas that would only see the return of hostages with US citizenship, Yedioth Ahronoth reports, citing a senior US diplomatic and intelligence official.
The report, by veteran correspondent Ronen Bergman, claims that Netanyahu’s office leaked the meeting between US hostage envoy Adam Boehler and senior Hamas officials in Doha in order to create daylight between Washington and Jerusalem, in hopes that would cause Hamas to harden its positions. In turn, says the official, Netanyahu could then blame Hamas for the failure to reach a deal.
The reported effort by Boehler to directly arrange with Hamas an interim deal to release living US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander and the bodies of others was met with intense anger in Israel.
Any deal that would only see the release of hostages with a specific foreign citizenship would likely be highly controversial in the country, and seen as unfairly prioritizing certain individuals over others.
The US official tells Bergman: “Netanyahu’s inner circle launched a crazy campaign to prevent the possibility that the United States would succeed in freeing Israeli hostages.
He adds: “It became clear to us that Netanyahu and Dermer are simply afraid that it will suddenly become clear to the US who wants a deal and who doesn’t; who is reluctant and who is pushing for the continuation of the war.”
Netanyahu’s office stridently denies the account, calling it “another serious manipulation and outright fake news in the midst of negotiations, serving Hamas’s psychological warfare.”
The official tells Bergman that US President Donald Trump knew about Boehler’s meeting with Hamas.
The IDF’s 8200 signals intelligence unit found out about the meeting, says the official, adding that the Americans were surprised that Israel had found out.
The official adds that Dermer managed to thwart a planned meeting between Hamas and Boehler in January. He also tried stopping hostages’ families from meeting Trump earlier this month.
At the same time, Bergman also cites a relative of a hostage who says that in a meeting with Dermer over a year ago, the minister told families of hostages with US citizenship: “Go to America. Talk to the administration and the establishment there, so that they act. That has a much better chance of making something happen than talking to us.”
The Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement that Netanyahu “has insisted on maximizing the number of hostages alive in the deals, in the face of those who are briefing Bergman and who want to submit to Hamas’s dictates of surrender.
“Absurdly, the more the prime minister succeeds in returning the kidnapped, the greater the political criticism against him,” says the PMO, promising that the government “will continue to do everything in its power, together with the security establishment, to return all of our hostages, both living and dead.” link. This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Dermer, who is Netanyahu's closest advisor and yes man and keeps a very very low profile and stays out of the spotlights, was put in charge of teh hostage negotiations to prevent any deal that would cause personal political problems for Netanyahu. That includes directly hurting the hostage families like he did by preventing a meeting between them and Trump. He will do anything and everything to help his boss, no matter who else pays the price. The worry of the hostage families when he was put in charge of the negotiations instead of Dede Barnea, head of the Mossad, was very well founded. While Barnea chief concern was the hostages, Dermer's chief concern is Netanyahu.
Citing its private demands, Witkoff rejects Hamas offer to free Edan Alexander, 4 dead hostages
Dismissed by Israel, Hamas terms said to be belated response to its aborted direct talks with US; Trump envoy reveals details of his ‘bridge’ proposal; Rubio calls Hamas ‘savages’
White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday dismissed as disingenuous a Hamas offer earlier in the day to release captive soldier Edan Alexander — the last known living American-Israeli hostage — and the remains of four unidentified dual nationals.
Rather than accepting his own “bridge proposal,” Witkoff said in a statement, “Unfortunately, Hamas has chosen to respond by publicly claiming flexibility while privately making demands that are entirely impractical without a permanent ceasefire.”
“Through our Qatari and Egyptian partners,” he explained, “Hamas was told in no uncertain terms that this ‘bridge’ would have to be implemented soon — and that dual US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander would have to be released immediately.” full article
- Hostage forum fumes after PM says he will only convene meeting on Doha talks tomorrow night
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum criticizes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his office says that Israel’s hostage talks delegation will return from Doha later today, but will not meet with the prime minister and his senior officials until Saturday night.
“The families of the hostages apologize for disturbing you on Shabbat, but their loved ones do not have time to wait!” the forum says.
“Twenty-four hours in captivity is 24 hours of hell, torment and abuse, it is 24 hours of danger of death and disappearance,” it says, pleading for the ministers to convene sooner than tomorrow night.
“For the hostages and their families, there is no Shabbat and no holidays,” it adds. “Return all 59 hostages immediately, and in one fell swoop!” link For 17 months, Netanyahu has shown that he has all the time in the world to deal with hostages. The problem is that the hostages don't have all the time in the world. Every second in captivity is a second that could easily be their last. NETANYAHU! BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!
**Senior Israeli Official: What Hamas is Offering is Light-Years Away from What We Discussed – They Are Playing with Fire**
In Israel, it is understood that Hamas's proposal to release the five American hostages is a manipulation, and preparations are being made to resume fighting. In the security discussion that Netanyahu will hold on Saturday night, possible military actions aimed at bringing the murderous terrorist organization back to the negotiating table will be presented. Alongside the Prime Minister, senior White House officials also criticized Hamas for its statement – "They are making a bad bet."
A senior Israeli official addressed Hamas's announcement this evening (Friday), in which it stated it would release the five American hostages from captivity. "What Hamas is offering is light-years away from what we discussed – they are playing with fire," the official said. This is Hamas's declaration – and the American threat.
The Israeli negotiation team returned this evening from Doha with a sense that there has been no progress in the talks, contrary to early expectations. Israel will attempt to maximize Hamas's proposal, which serves as a kind of basis for U.S. discussions. Israel will push to include additional hostages in the deal – not just those with foreign citizenship.
- The U.S. administration attacks after Hamas's announcement: "The terrorist organization made a bad bet."
- The delegation discussed the Witkoff framework in Qatar – all the details.
Tomorrow evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene a security discussion. The emerging decision is to apply military pressure on Hamas to make it understand that it has no time and must return to the negotiating table as soon as possible.
**IDF Preparations for Resuming Fighting – and the Objectives**
The murderous terrorist organization announced earlier today that it "agrees to release the kidnapped soldier Idan Alexander, who holds American citizenship, and to hand over four additional deceased hostages with dual citizenship."
The terrorist organization's statement was intended to try to undermine the close relationship between Israel and the U.S., but the two are fully coordinated. Israel is prepared and ready to carry out a series of military operations in the Gaza Strip, with two objectives: thwarting immediate threats that cannot be detailed, and attempting to bring Hamas back to the negotiating table.
Beyond that, the security establishment is preparing for an additional move, if required, which is the imposition of military rule in the Gaza Strip, with the distribution of food and supplies to Gaza residents carried out by other entities, not IDF soldiers.
If all these actions do not succeed, Israel is preparing for a very broad and comprehensive operation aimed at defeating Hamas, which could also endanger hostages and is expected to be carried out in the coming weeks.
In response to Hamas's announcement, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement: "While Israel accepted the Witkoff framework, Hamas remains obstinate and has not moved an inch. At the same time, it continues to employ manipulations and psychological warfare. The Prime Minister will convene the ministerial team on Saturday night to receive a detailed update from the negotiation team and decide on the next steps for the release of the hostages."
Following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff also criticized Hamas: "Their demands are outrageous, and they are aware of the deadline we set." Witkoff issued a statement this evening, along with the U.S. National Security Council, confirming that the U.S. has presented a "mediation proposal" for the coming weeks. "We proposed a mediation offer to extend the ceasefire in Gaza and to discuss a framework for ending the war. Hamas presented impractical demands; they are well aware of the deadline we set."
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also addressed the terrorist organization's announcement: "Hamas is a sick organization, and this is not normal negotiation. These deals are insane; you can see the conditions in which the hostages are held. The world is acting as if it is logical to kidnap babies, teenagers, and people who have no connection to the war and keep them in a tunnel for a year and a half." link. I'm not saying for a second that Hamas is the wronged side, they are nothing but barbaric terrorists who should not be breathing the same air as us, or any air but they have the upper hand here and have had it since the beginning of the war. They have our hostages, the hostages that were taken under Netanyahu and his failed government's watch. They are in Gaza because our government failed to protect them, in fact, they abandoned them and have been doing so for 526 days. And everyone knows, yes everyone that the only way to get all of our hostages home is through a deal and that deal entails calling an end to the war. Netanyahu, for his own self interest spits in the face of every hostage, hostage family and over 80% of the population while he takes his time in meetings, most of which have nothing to do with the hostages, his criminal trial and all of his efforts to delay and kill it, doing everything to keep his government together and going above and beyond to prevent an official State commission of inquiry, and refuses to make any deal that includes ending the war. Who is he doing that for? Certainly not the hostages or their families and not for the israeli public. Only for himself. His time in public office needs to end as we are worthy of a leader who will do everything for the good of the people and the country. Netanyahu is not capable of that.
Hamas says it will only release Edan Alexander if ceasefire deal implemented
Hamas says it would only release an American-Israeli and the bodies of four other hostages if Israel implements the existing ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, calling it an “exceptional deal” aimed at getting the truce back on track.
A senior Hamas official says long-delayed talks over the ceasefire’s second phase would need to begin the day of the release and last no longer than 50 days. Israel would also need to stop barring the entry of humanitarian aid and withdraw from a strategic corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt.
Hamas would also demand the release of more Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages, the official says, who speaks on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.
Edan Alexander, 21, who grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, was abducted from his military base during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre that ignited the war and is the last living American citizen held in Gaza.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, where government offices were closed for the weekly Sabbath. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Friday accused Hamas of “manipulation and psychological warfare” when the offer was initially made before Hamas spelled out the conditions. link There is so much information going on about the negotiations, so much of it spins and leaked information, mostly to pressure Hamas. I do not diminish Hamas' role in all of this. They are, after all, the barbaric terror organization that attacked, committed atrocities and abducted 251 of our people, but we all know certain facts about making a hostage deal, no matter how much we choose to be blinded and buy into Netanyahu's propaganda. Hamas will not make a deal to release all of the hostages, or even a large number of the remaining 59 without a date and guarantee that the war will end, or to use the euphemism, a permanent ceasefire (that is the term chosen to appease Netanyahu so he can claim that the war has not ended). Netanyahu knows this very well but he is not prepared to end the war for his own personal political reasons of which I will once again remind everyone: 1- end of the war means massive calls for an Independent State Commission of Inquiry which will find Netanyahu and his governments (past and present) culpable and responsible for most of what led up to October 1 and all of the implications of the findings; 2- end of the war means massive calls for early elections, which would almost definitely mean that Netanyahu will not win the elections and become Prime Minister again. Quite the opposite, he will become an opposition Knesset Member; 3 - He is constantly delaying his criminal trials in the hope that his government will continue with the judicial overthrow and his indictments will be cancelled, as he knows that if the trials continue and the likelihood that he will be found guilty will mean that he will go to prison. These are the 3 most important things to Netanyahu and the reasons that he has kept the war going in opposition to all the heads of the security organizations and he is willing to sacrifice the lives of all the remaining living hostages on his alter of self interests.
A group of released hostages meets US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on March 5, 2025. (White House/X)
Looking to ramp up the pressure on all parties working to negotiate a deal between Israel and Hamas, several families of hostages sent a letter to US President Donald Trump asking for his help, the Kan public broadcaster reports.
Lishi Miran Lavi, wife of hostage Omri Miran; Liran Berman, the older brother of twin hostages Gali and Ziv Berman; Dalia Kushner, sister-in-law of hostage Eitan Horn and released hostage Iair Horn; Yotam Cohen, brother of captive soldier Nimrod Cohen, and Einav Zangauker penned the missive, the report says.
“For more than a year and a half, the Israeli government has been playing with the lives of our loved ones,” they wrote. “Assurances were given and violated. Hopes were given and trampled on. While the prime minister and his government members evade, hide, and bide their time, our hostages are being severely tortured, and we saw the results of the terrible abuse when they returned to us in coffins or emaciated and tortured.”
Trump, who last week met with a group of freed hostages in the Oval Office, has reportedly been moved by the condition of some hostages who returned after months of being starved and abused by their captors.
Families of some hostages, as well as some of those who have been released, have increasingly extolled Trump as their hope and savior while accusing the government of being ineffective and bogged down in a coalition quagmire.
“When there is no one left to rely on, we turn to you, President Donald Trump,” they implored. You are the only person who can now get involved and bring an end to this nightmare.”
The families accused the government of “abandoning the lives of our sons and daughters out of stubborn insistence on positions that have no relation to a security threat” and of saying one thing to them behind closed doors and “telling a completely different story to the public.”
“If it doesn’t act immediately to return all the living hostages — we will reveal to the people everything that they said to us. All the broken promises
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his confidant Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer worked to prevent the US from reaching a new hostage deal with Hamas that would only see the return of hostages with US citizenship, Yedioth Ahronoth reports, citing a senior US diplomatic and intelligence official.
The report, by veteran correspondent Ronen Bergman, claims that Netanyahu’s office leaked the meeting between US hostage envoy Adam Boehler and senior Hamas officials in Doha in order to create daylight between Washington and Jerusalem, in hopes that would cause Hamas to harden its positions. In turn, says the official, Netanyahu could then blame Hamas for the failure to reach a deal.
The reported effort by Boehler to directly arrange with Hamas an interim deal to release living US-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander and the bodies of others was met with intense anger in Israel.
Any deal that would only see the release of hostages with a specific foreign citizenship would likely be highly controversial in the country, and seen as unfairly prioritizing certain individuals over others.
The US official tells Bergman: “Netanyahu’s inner circle launched a crazy campaign to prevent the possibility that the United States would succeed in freeing Israeli hostages.
He adds: “It became clear to us that Netanyahu and Dermer are simply afraid that it will suddenly become clear to the US who wants a deal and who doesn’t; who is reluctant and who is pushing for the continuation of the war.”
Netanyahu’s office stridently denies the account, calling it “another serious manipulation and outright fake news in the midst of negotiations, serving Hamas’s psychological warfare.”
The official tells Bergman that US President Donald Trump knew about Boehler’s meeting with Hamas.
The IDF’s 8200 signals intelligence unit found out about the meeting, says the official, adding that the Americans were surprised that Israel had found out.
The official adds that Dermer managed to thwart a planned meeting between Hamas and Boehler in January. He also tried stopping hostages’ families from meeting Trump earlier this month.
At the same time, Bergman also cites a relative of a hostage who says that in a meeting with Dermer over a year ago, the minister told families of hostages with US citizenship: “Go to America. Talk to the administration and the establishment there, so that they act. That has a much better chance of making something happen than talking to us.”
The Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement that Netanyahu “has insisted on maximizing the number of hostages alive in the deals, in the face of those who are briefing Bergman and who want to submit to Hamas’s dictates of surrender.
“Absurdly, the more the prime minister succeeds in returning the kidnapped, the greater the political criticism against him,” says the PMO, promising that the government “will continue to do everything in its power, together with the security establishment, to return all of our hostages, both living and dead.” link. This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Dermer, who is Netanyahu's closest advisor and yes man and keeps a very very low profile and stays out of the spotlights, was put in charge of teh hostage negotiations to prevent any deal that would cause personal political problems for Netanyahu. That includes directly hurting the hostage families like he did by preventing a meeting between them and Trump. He will do anything and everything to help his boss, no matter who else pays the price. The worry of the hostage families when he was put in charge of the negotiations instead of Dede Barnea, head of the Mossad, was very well founded. While Barnea chief concern was the hostages, Dermer's chief concern is Netanyahu.
Citing its private demands, Witkoff rejects Hamas offer to free Edan Alexander, 4 dead hostages
Dismissed by Israel, Hamas terms said to be belated response to its aborted direct talks with US; Trump envoy reveals details of his ‘bridge’ proposal; Rubio calls Hamas ‘savages’
White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday dismissed as disingenuous a Hamas offer earlier in the day to release captive soldier Edan Alexander — the last known living American-Israeli hostage — and the remains of four unidentified dual nationals.
Rather than accepting his own “bridge proposal,” Witkoff said in a statement, “Unfortunately, Hamas has chosen to respond by publicly claiming flexibility while privately making demands that are entirely impractical without a permanent ceasefire.”
“Through our Qatari and Egyptian partners,” he explained, “Hamas was told in no uncertain terms that this ‘bridge’ would have to be implemented soon — and that dual US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander would have to be released immediately.” full article
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum criticizes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his office says that Israel’s hostage talks delegation will return from Doha later today, but will not meet with the prime minister and his senior officials until Saturday night.
“The families of the hostages apologize for disturbing you on Shabbat, but their loved ones do not have time to wait!” the forum says.
“Twenty-four hours in captivity is 24 hours of hell, torment and abuse, it is 24 hours of danger of death and disappearance,” it says, pleading for the ministers to convene sooner than tomorrow night.
“For the hostages and their families, there is no Shabbat and no holidays,” it adds. “Return all 59 hostages immediately, and in one fell swoop!” link For 17 months, Netanyahu has shown that he has all the time in the world to deal with hostages. The problem is that the hostages don't have all the time in the world. Every second in captivity is a second that could easily be their last. NETANYAHU! BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!
**Senior Israeli Official: What Hamas is Offering is Light-Years Away from What We Discussed – They Are Playing with Fire**
In Israel, it is understood that Hamas's proposal to release the five American hostages is a manipulation, and preparations are being made to resume fighting. In the security discussion that Netanyahu will hold on Saturday night, possible military actions aimed at bringing the murderous terrorist organization back to the negotiating table will be presented. Alongside the Prime Minister, senior White House officials also criticized Hamas for its statement – "They are making a bad bet."
A senior Israeli official addressed Hamas's announcement this evening (Friday), in which it stated it would release the five American hostages from captivity. "What Hamas is offering is light-years away from what we discussed – they are playing with fire," the official said. This is Hamas's declaration – and the American threat.
The Israeli negotiation team returned this evening from Doha with a sense that there has been no progress in the talks, contrary to early expectations. Israel will attempt to maximize Hamas's proposal, which serves as a kind of basis for U.S. discussions. Israel will push to include additional hostages in the deal – not just those with foreign citizenship.
- The U.S. administration attacks after Hamas's announcement: "The terrorist organization made a bad bet."
- The delegation discussed the Witkoff framework in Qatar – all the details.
Tomorrow evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene a security discussion. The emerging decision is to apply military pressure on Hamas to make it understand that it has no time and must return to the negotiating table as soon as possible.
**IDF Preparations for Resuming Fighting – and the Objectives**
The murderous terrorist organization announced earlier today that it "agrees to release the kidnapped soldier Idan Alexander, who holds American citizenship, and to hand over four additional deceased hostages with dual citizenship."
The terrorist organization's statement was intended to try to undermine the close relationship between Israel and the U.S., but the two are fully coordinated. Israel is prepared and ready to carry out a series of military operations in the Gaza Strip, with two objectives: thwarting immediate threats that cannot be detailed, and attempting to bring Hamas back to the negotiating table.
Beyond that, the security establishment is preparing for an additional move, if required, which is the imposition of military rule in the Gaza Strip, with the distribution of food and supplies to Gaza residents carried out by other entities, not IDF soldiers.
If all these actions do not succeed, Israel is preparing for a very broad and comprehensive operation aimed at defeating Hamas, which could also endanger hostages and is expected to be carried out in the coming weeks.
In response to Hamas's announcement, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement: "While Israel accepted the Witkoff framework, Hamas remains obstinate and has not moved an inch. At the same time, it continues to employ manipulations and psychological warfare. The Prime Minister will convene the ministerial team on Saturday night to receive a detailed update from the negotiation team and decide on the next steps for the release of the hostages."
Following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff also criticized Hamas: "Their demands are outrageous, and they are aware of the deadline we set." Witkoff issued a statement this evening, along with the U.S. National Security Council, confirming that the U.S. has presented a "mediation proposal" for the coming weeks. "We proposed a mediation offer to extend the ceasefire in Gaza and to discuss a framework for ending the war. Hamas presented impractical demands; they are well aware of the deadline we set."
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also addressed the terrorist organization's announcement: "Hamas is a sick organization, and this is not normal negotiation. These deals are insane; you can see the conditions in which the hostages are held. The world is acting as if it is logical to kidnap babies, teenagers, and people who have no connection to the war and keep them in a tunnel for a year and a half." link. I'm not saying for a second that Hamas is the wronged side, they are nothing but barbaric terrorists who should not be breathing the same air as us, or any air but they have the upper hand here and have had it since the beginning of the war. They have our hostages, the hostages that were taken under Netanyahu and his failed government's watch. They are in Gaza because our government failed to protect them, in fact, they abandoned them and have been doing so for 526 days. And everyone knows, yes everyone that the only way to get all of our hostages home is through a deal and that deal entails calling an end to the war. Netanyahu, for his own self interest spits in the face of every hostage, hostage family and over 80% of the population while he takes his time in meetings, most of which have nothing to do with the hostages, his criminal trial and all of his efforts to delay and kill it, doing everything to keep his government together and going above and beyond to prevent an official State commission of inquiry, and refuses to make any deal that includes ending the war. Who is he doing that for? Certainly not the hostages or their families and not for the israeli public. Only for himself. His time in public office needs to end as we are worthy of a leader who will do everything for the good of the people and the country. Netanyahu is not capable of that.
Hamas says it will only release Edan Alexander if ceasefire deal implemented
Hamas says it would only release an American-Israeli and the bodies of four other hostages if Israel implements the existing ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, calling it an “exceptional deal” aimed at getting the truce back on track.
A senior Hamas official says long-delayed talks over the ceasefire’s second phase would need to begin the day of the release and last no longer than 50 days. Israel would also need to stop barring the entry of humanitarian aid and withdraw from a strategic corridor along Gaza’s border with Egypt.
Hamas would also demand the release of more Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages, the official says, who speaks on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.
Edan Alexander, 21, who grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey, was abducted from his military base during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre that ignited the war and is the last living American citizen held in Gaza.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, where government offices were closed for the weekly Sabbath. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Friday accused Hamas of “manipulation and psychological warfare” when the offer was initially made before Hamas spelled out the conditions. link There is so much information going on about the negotiations, so much of it spins and leaked information, mostly to pressure Hamas. I do not diminish Hamas' role in all of this. They are, after all, the barbaric terror organization that attacked, committed atrocities and abducted 251 of our people, but we all know certain facts about making a hostage deal, no matter how much we choose to be blinded and buy into Netanyahu's propaganda. Hamas will not make a deal to release all of the hostages, or even a large number of the remaining 59 without a date and guarantee that the war will end, or to use the euphemism, a permanent ceasefire (that is the term chosen to appease Netanyahu so he can claim that the war has not ended). Netanyahu knows this very well but he is not prepared to end the war for his own personal political reasons of which I will once again remind everyone: 1- end of the war means massive calls for an Independent State Commission of Inquiry which will find Netanyahu and his governments (past and present) culpable and responsible for most of what led up to October 1 and all of the implications of the findings; 2- end of the war means massive calls for early elections, which would almost definitely mean that Netanyahu will not win the elections and become Prime Minister again. Quite the opposite, he will become an opposition Knesset Member; 3 - He is constantly delaying his criminal trials in the hope that his government will continue with the judicial overthrow and his indictments will be cancelled, as he knows that if the trials continue and the likelihood that he will be found guilty will mean that he will go to prison. These are the 3 most important things to Netanyahu and the reasons that he has kept the war going in opposition to all the heads of the security organizations and he is willing to sacrifice the lives of all the remaining living hostages on his alter of self interests.
Gaza and the South
- Halevi: Failures at Nir Oz must be ‘etched into IDF consciousness’
Channel 13 publishes a partial recording of former IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi’s comments to members of Kibbutz Nir Oz during the army’s presentation of its investigation into the October 7 massacre of the community.
“I heard the harshest statement about October 7 from one of your members,” Halevi can be heard telling the kibbutz residents in the recording.
“I say it in every conversation I have with commanders so that everyone in the IDF will remember it — that the first soldier arrived at Nir Oz after the last terrorist had left,” the former army chief says.
“This is a terrible and damning statement, and we repeat it so that it will be etched into the consciousness of the IDF.” link
Somaliland foreign minister says no talks have been held on resettlement of Palestinians
The breakaway Somaliland region is not in any talks with anyone about the resettlement of Palestinians, its foreign minister says.
“I haven’t received such a proposal, and there are no talks with anyone regarding Palestinians,” Abdirahman Dahir Adan, Somaliland’s foreign minister, tells Reuters.
Earlier today, the Associated Press reported that Israel and the US have reached out to the governments of Sudan, Somalia, and Somaliland to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for resettling Palestinians uprooted from the Gaza Strip under US President Donald Trump’s proposed postwar plan.
Sudan confirmed that it had been contacted by the US but rejected its overtures. link Trump's plan is utterly ridiculous and illegal as it is considered ethnic cleansing. Unfortunately, that hasn't stopped Netanyahu from endorsing the plan and playing along with it Disgraceful.
Channel 13 publishes a partial recording of former IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi’s comments to members of Kibbutz Nir Oz during the army’s presentation of its investigation into the October 7 massacre of the community.
“I heard the harshest statement about October 7 from one of your members,” Halevi can be heard telling the kibbutz residents in the recording.
“I say it in every conversation I have with commanders so that everyone in the IDF will remember it — that the first soldier arrived at Nir Oz after the last terrorist had left,” the former army chief says.
“This is a terrible and damning statement, and we repeat it so that it will be etched into the consciousness of the IDF.” link
Somaliland foreign minister says no talks have been held on resettlement of Palestinians
The breakaway Somaliland region is not in any talks with anyone about the resettlement of Palestinians, its foreign minister says.
“I haven’t received such a proposal, and there are no talks with anyone regarding Palestinians,” Abdirahman Dahir Adan, Somaliland’s foreign minister, tells Reuters.
Earlier today, the Associated Press reported that Israel and the US have reached out to the governments of Sudan, Somalia, and Somaliland to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for resettling Palestinians uprooted from the Gaza Strip under US President Donald Trump’s proposed postwar plan.
Sudan confirmed that it had been contacted by the US but rejected its overtures. link Trump's plan is utterly ridiculous and illegal as it is considered ethnic cleansing. Unfortunately, that hasn't stopped Netanyahu from endorsing the plan and playing along with it Disgraceful.
Northern Israel - Lebanon/Hizbollah/Syria
- Syrian Druze clerics enter Israel to visit revered shrine for first time in decades
Several dozen Syrian Druze clerics cross the armistice line on the Golan Heights into Israel on Friday, to conduct their community’s first pilgrimage in decades.
On board three buses escorted by Israeli military vehicles, the clerics cross at Majdal Shams in the Golan, and head to northern Israel where they will visit the shrine and meet the leader of Israel’s Druze, according to a source close to the delegation.
The delegation of around 60 clerics is due to meet the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, in northern Israel.
They are then set to head to the tomb of Nabi Shuaib in the Galilee -– the most important religious site for the Druze.
A source close to the delegation says that the visit follows an invitation from the Druze community in Israel, but that it was met with “strong opposition” from other Druze in Syria.
The Druze account for about three percent of Syria’s population and are heavily concentrated in the southern province of Sweida.
Israel is home to around 150,000 Druze, with most holding Israeli citizenship and serving in the army.
However, of the some 23,000 living in the Golan Heights, most do not hold Israeli citizenship and still see themselves as Syrian nationals.
- PA’s Abbas to meet Lebanon’s leaders in Beirut next week — report
PA President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to meet Lebanese leaders in Beirut next week, according to the pro-Hezbollah Al Akhbar daily.
According to the report, Abbas will discuss the Palestinian Authority’s support for the disarming of various armed groups in Lebanon in meetings with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, President Joseph Aoun, and parliament speaker Nabih Berri.
- Syrian Druze clerics enter Israel to visit revered shrine for first time in decades
Several dozen Syrian Druze clerics cross the armistice line on the Golan Heights into Israel on Friday, to conduct their community’s first pilgrimage in decades.
On board three buses escorted by Israeli military vehicles, the clerics cross at Majdal Shams in the Golan, and head to northern Israel where they will visit the shrine and meet the leader of Israel’s Druze, according to a source close to the delegation.
The delegation of around 60 clerics is due to meet the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, in northern Israel.
They are then set to head to the tomb of Nabi Shuaib in the Galilee -– the most important religious site for the Druze.
A source close to the delegation says that the visit follows an invitation from the Druze community in Israel, but that it was met with “strong opposition” from other Druze in Syria.
The Druze account for about three percent of Syria’s population and are heavily concentrated in the southern province of Sweida.
Israel is home to around 150,000 Druze, with most holding Israeli citizenship and serving in the army.
However, of the some 23,000 living in the Golan Heights, most do not hold Israeli citizenship and still see themselves as Syrian nationals.
- PA’s Abbas to meet Lebanon’s leaders in Beirut next week — report
PA President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to meet Lebanese leaders in Beirut next week, according to the pro-Hezbollah Al Akhbar daily.
According to the report, Abbas will discuss the Palestinian Authority’s support for the disarming of various armed groups in Lebanon in meetings with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, President Joseph Aoun, and parliament speaker Nabih Berri.
West Bank and Jerusalem and Terror attacks within Israel
- Judge releases suspect who shot municipal worker during attack by ‘Death to Arabs’-shouting mob
A Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court judge has ordered that a Jewish suspect who shot an Arab municipal worker in the capital be released to house arrest, despite the apparent lack of justification for opening fire.
Ahmad Nijam, 41, was shot in the leg on Wednesday night in downtown Jerusalem after coming under attack by a mob of young Jewish extremists who chanted “Death to Arabs,” witnesses report.
Speaking to Channel 13, Nijam recalls how members of the mob approached him and demanded to know why he was hanging around an area generally frequented by Jews. Several people threw water bottles at him and another member of the group demanded — without cause — that he open his backpack.
At one point, the suspect ordered Nijam to drop to the ground before shooting him — a seemingly clear violation of open-fire regulations.
Footage from the scene shows Nijam writhing in pain, as the suspect and another individual wearing an IDF uniform stand several meters away without providing any assistance. link I wish this was an unbelievable incident but it is not. There is not equal justice in Israel and this is about Israeli citizens but the difference is Jews and Arabs. I won't get into the justice system that separates Israelis and Palestinians who live under our occupation. Many people like to believe that being an Arab citizen of the State is the same as being a Jewish citizen, but there are vast differences in so many areas. This is just one instance that is repeated too often. If the shoe was on the other foot and the perpetrators were Arabs, he wouldn't be confined to house arrest during the proceedings. In all liklihood, he would have been held incarcerated for the entire time of the proceedings and it is highly likely that he would have been beaten to a pulp or killed by an angry mob.
- 3 terrorists killed, over 100 wanted Palestinians nabbed in West Bank op this week
IDF troops operate in the West Bank, in a handout photo published March 14, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says troops killed three terror operatives and detained over 100 wanted Palestinians during operations in the West Bank over the past week.
Soldiers also seized dozens of weapons and questioned dozens more suspects.
The IDF has been carrying out a major offensive in the northern West Bank, dubbed Operation Iron Wall, since January 21.
In the past week, the offensive focused on the towns of Arraba and Qabatiya near Jenin, the military adds.
- Shin Bet, police investigating suspected arson attacks in West Bank Palestinian village
The Shin Bet and Israel Police are investigating several instances of suspected arson in the Palestinian village of Khirbet Al-Marjam in the West Bank overnight, the two agencies say in a joint statement.
The suspected arson attacks occurred shortly after several Palestinians tried to steal a herd belonging to Israeli settlers near Khirbet Al-Marjam, the Shin Bet and police say.
A short while after police received a report about the attempted theft of the Israeli’s herd, Palestinians reported that a number of masked men had broken into the village, and were setting homes and vehicles on fire, the statement says, adding that IDF troops and Israeli Border Police were then dispatched to the scene.
It was then decided that the Israel Police and Shin Bet would open a joint investigation into the incident, the statement adds. link I will be very surprised if anyone is arrested and if they are, I will be totally blown away if anyone is charged, and I can almost guarantee that if someone is charged, there is just about a zero chance they will be convicted, unless it's the Palestinian victims who are arrested, charged and brought to trial. If that is the case, it is almost guaranteed that they would be found guilty and sent to prison.
A Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court judge has ordered that a Jewish suspect who shot an Arab municipal worker in the capital be released to house arrest, despite the apparent lack of justification for opening fire.
Ahmad Nijam, 41, was shot in the leg on Wednesday night in downtown Jerusalem after coming under attack by a mob of young Jewish extremists who chanted “Death to Arabs,” witnesses report.
Speaking to Channel 13, Nijam recalls how members of the mob approached him and demanded to know why he was hanging around an area generally frequented by Jews. Several people threw water bottles at him and another member of the group demanded — without cause — that he open his backpack.
At one point, the suspect ordered Nijam to drop to the ground before shooting him — a seemingly clear violation of open-fire regulations.
Footage from the scene shows Nijam writhing in pain, as the suspect and another individual wearing an IDF uniform stand several meters away without providing any assistance. link I wish this was an unbelievable incident but it is not. There is not equal justice in Israel and this is about Israeli citizens but the difference is Jews and Arabs. I won't get into the justice system that separates Israelis and Palestinians who live under our occupation. Many people like to believe that being an Arab citizen of the State is the same as being a Jewish citizen, but there are vast differences in so many areas. This is just one instance that is repeated too often. If the shoe was on the other foot and the perpetrators were Arabs, he wouldn't be confined to house arrest during the proceedings. In all liklihood, he would have been held incarcerated for the entire time of the proceedings and it is highly likely that he would have been beaten to a pulp or killed by an angry mob.
IDF troops operate in the West Bank, in a handout photo published March 14, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF says troops killed three terror operatives and detained over 100 wanted Palestinians during operations in the West Bank over the past week.
Soldiers also seized dozens of weapons and questioned dozens more suspects.
The IDF has been carrying out a major offensive in the northern West Bank, dubbed Operation Iron Wall, since January 21.
In the past week, the offensive focused on the towns of Arraba and Qabatiya near Jenin, the military adds.
The Shin Bet and Israel Police are investigating several instances of suspected arson in the Palestinian village of Khirbet Al-Marjam in the West Bank overnight, the two agencies say in a joint statement.
The suspected arson attacks occurred shortly after several Palestinians tried to steal a herd belonging to Israeli settlers near Khirbet Al-Marjam, the Shin Bet and police say.
A short while after police received a report about the attempted theft of the Israeli’s herd, Palestinians reported that a number of masked men had broken into the village, and were setting homes and vehicles on fire, the statement says, adding that IDF troops and Israeli Border Police were then dispatched to the scene.
It was then decided that the Israel Police and Shin Bet would open a joint investigation into the incident, the statement adds. link I will be very surprised if anyone is arrested and if they are, I will be totally blown away if anyone is charged, and I can almost guarantee that if someone is charged, there is just about a zero chance they will be convicted, unless it's the Palestinian victims who are arrested, charged and brought to trial. If that is the case, it is almost guaranteed that they would be found guilty and sent to prison.
Politics and the War (general news)
- "You've had enough. Return to Gaza": Nir Oz Forgotten and Slaughtered | The Investigation of the Kibbutz Abandoned on 7/10
500 Gazans rampaged through the kibbutz, facing 385 residents who barricaded themselves in safe rooms—without a single soldier present. The collapse of the military command in the area and the kibbutz's remote location led to its abandonment, allowing seven hours of murder, arson, and abduction without interruption. The military investigation revealed a systemic failure by Southern Command and a deadly protocol. A minute-by-minute account of the events highlights the bravery of the kibbutz's emergency response team, the bloodbath in the foreign workers' quarters, the tank that continued to fight, and the helplessness of helicopter pilots. The investigating general found similarities to the Kishinev pogrom.
Forty minutes passed from the moment the last of the 500 terrorists left Nir Oz at 12:30 PM on October 7, 2023, until any security force entered the kibbutz. That force was not IDF but rather a group of undercover Border Police officers who arrived after the residents had been left to fend for themselves. They came in response to a police emergency call. For seven horrific hours, the IDF had no idea what was happening in the kibbutz, located at the edge of the "horseshoe" of communities in the central Gaza envelope.
There was no battle or confrontation in Nir Oz, which suffered the most painful and traumatic blow that day. "This was the failure within the failure of October 7," outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi admitted yesterday (Thursday) to the survivors, asking for their forgiveness during the presentation of the military investigation. He and the officers beside him understood: the stunned residents, now living in Kiryat Gat, are far from recovery and have not received adequate support from the state or the resources needed to help them.
Admitted failure to the residents. The outgoing Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi.
The Military Investigation into the Fall of Nir Oz
The military investigation into the fall of Nir Oz, conducted over eight months of gathering thousands of testimonies, details, recordings, and photographs, was so difficult and complex that the IDF appointed a retired major general, Eran Niv, to lead it. Niv, who recently commanded the Communications Directorate and the Judea and Samaria Division, brought experience from another chaotic and tragic event: he commanded the Hebron Brigade in November 2002, during the peak of the Second Intifada, when terrorists carried out the massacre of worshippers near the Cave of the Patriarchs, where the brigade commander, Colonel Dror Steinberg, was also killed.
Unlike that attack, there were no military forces to investigate in the case of Nir Oz, as no soldiers fought the terrorists there. The investigation relied on survivors of the massacre, wounded civilians, and limited intelligence and terrorist interrogations. At the end of the investigation, Major General Niv stated that gathering information about what happened reminded him of the content he read in high school from Bialik's poem "In the City of Slaughter," which described the slaughter of Jews during the Kishinev pogrom at the beginning of the last century.
Every resident of Nir Oz was affected by the massacre of October 7—some were executed by gunfire or burning, others were abducted to Gaza or murdered in captivity, some were injured, and others lost their homes. Only six homes in the kibbutz were not entered by terrorists. Around noon, the terrorists received orders from their commanders in Gaza to finish and return to the Strip, as they had "had enough." About 10% of the 5,000 terrorists who invaded the western Negev participated in the massacre in the small, forgotten kibbutz on that Black Sabbath.
Systemic Failure in Southern Command
At the peak of the invasion, there were more terrorists in Nir Oz than civilians and soldiers combined: about 400-500 terrorists against 385 civilians (out of 420 residents), including foreign workers. Just three kilometers separate the kibbutz from the Gaza border and the outskirts of Khan Yunis. A systemic failure in Southern Command meant there was no IDF outpost, not even a platoon-sized one, to block the terrorists. Were it not for the bravery of the residents, some of whom held the doors of their safe rooms with their last strength, the terrorists could have abducted or murdered an entire Israeli community.
Forty-seven civilians were murdered in Nir Oz on October 7, including six who had come from a nearby party. Seventy-six were abducted to the Khan Yunis area, 67 of whom are still alive. Thirteen were murdered in captivity. Forty-nine returned to Israel as part of Israel's deals with Hamas. Hanna Katzir, who returned alive in November 2023, passed away a few months later. Thirteen bodies of victims have been returned, and currently, five living abductees from Nir Oz and nine bodies are still held in Gaza.
In the outposts, they anticipated a quiet weekend. The destruction in Kibbutz Nir Oz (Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen).
At the beginning of the investigation presentation, a recording was played of the deputy commander of the Golani Brigade's 51st Battalion, responsible for the area, announcing on the communication network that a quiet weekend was expected, with no protests along the fence. He had 182 fighters and 57 combat support personnel in the area, tasked with defending the communities of the Eshkol region in the northern part of the envelope. The maximum and surprising scenario they prepared for was a breach from a single point along the border.
Not far from the Golani soldiers who had just finished their Sabbath, in the relaxed atmosphere of the end of the holidays, Judy and Gadi Weinstein were preparing for their morning walk, which began at 6:06 AM. They would be the first residents to be murdered.
The Protocol Proved Fatal
Nir Oz is not defined as a border-adjacent community like Nahal Oz, Netiv HaAsara, or Kerem Shalom, but it is one of the closest to the Gaza Strip—just three kilometers from the village of Hirbat Haza'a on the outskirts of Khan Yunis. Terrorist organizations fired 450 rockets at the Nir Oz area that morning, primarily targeting IDF outposts protecting the region, which also includes Nirim, Kissufim, Magen, and Ein HaShlosha. This group of communities lies between the border and Route 232, the main longitudinal road in the Gaza envelope. Nir Oz is the most remote of them.
The first Golani forces operating that morning were mostly already outside the outposts as part of the "Gate Bridge" protocol, which replaced and reduced the previous dawn readiness protocol (under which most fighters in the area were required to be awake and outside the outposts or in positions during the sensitive hours before sunrise). The fighters thus acted according to the protocol: when the events began at 6:30 AM, they advanced toward the border and not toward the communities, which later proved to be a fatal mistake. The investigation revealed that implementing the protocol caused Golani forces to split north and south toward the border, leaving Nir Oz alone.
The tank of Captain Omer Neutra z"l
Two routine security tanks operated in the kibbutz's area. The investigation confirmed that one of them, commanded by the late Captain Omer Neutra, was not operational. This is the Israeli tank that became a symbol of the invasion for Hamas, with invaders photographed holding Palestinian flags on it in victory poses. Golani fighters who survived the battle in the area had harsh criticisms: how did the IDF strip them of basic lethal capabilities that every border fighter should have, such as fragmentation grenades and LAW missiles?
Points of Conquest Marked by the Invaders
A significant part of the investigation was dedicated to the bravery of Nir Oz's emergency response team—seven armed residents facing the first 150 terrorists. They managed to delay some of the killings and abductions by about two hours. The destruction in the kibbutz was evident, though less severe than in communities like Kfar Aza and Be'eri, as no IDF tank or bulldozer entered Nir Oz. However, the arson, destruction, and looting scarred most of the kibbutz's homes.
In fact, apart from a tank that arrived at 9:55 AM for a brief sortie at the kibbutz's gate, eliminated a few terrorists, and left to rescue an Namer armored vehicle with a wounded force at risk of abduction, only the Air Force held Nir Oz during the critical hours, with a few combat helicopters struggling to provide a clear picture from above. The pilots killed several dozen of the 64 terrorist bodies found along the route between the kibbutz and the border, but they also hit abductees. No one in the IDF cross-referenced the pilots' reports of ground activity with the messages and pleas of the besieged residents or observation images.
A home in Nir Oz that the terrorist lit on fire
The Second Wave of the Invasion
The second wave of the invasion occurred between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM and included a murderous mob of 14-60-year-olds who arrived from Hirbat Haza'a on the other side of the border, a 20-minute walk away.
The Weak Point of the "Horseshoe" Communities
Eight reports were sent from the kibbutz to the Southern Brigade of the Gaza Division in the first two hours of the massacre. The brigade commander, Colonel Asaf Hamami, was killed in battle near Nirim, but other officers remained in the division's command center, which was overrun. They received information from observation footage and other sources, but everything was mixed with hundreds of other reports flooding in from the field, and no one in the rear command centers, from Southern Command to the IDF Operations Directorate in the Kirya, remembered that there was a small community right next to the border that needed forces sent to it.
He declared war on October 7. Colonel Asaf Hamami was killed and his body was abducted to Gaza where it still remains.
In fact, the only force sent to the kibbutz was a team from the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, which encountered a Nukhba ambush at the Ma'on junction, 2-3 kilometers from Nir Oz. For about an hour and a half, the fighters engaged in heavy combat to clear the junction, during which they lost their commander. But even afterward, they did not continue to Nir Oz. The reason was that reports from there had died down, while reports of chaotic and deadly loss of control in Kibbutz Be'eri, not far away, increased. The wounded and leaderless force chose to head there instead.
Additional Failures
Another failure concerned the non-implementation of a decision made late that morning by the IDF top brass to assign a senior officer—a brigade or division commander—to each area of the overrun communities. It turns out that the "horseshoe" communities, due to the side road that branches off and returns to Route 232, with Nir Oz at its remote end, were not assigned a colonel or brigadier general who could have brought some order.
This was despite the fact that in the Southern Command's control rooms in Be'er Sheva and the General Staff's in the Kirya, very experienced combat commanders were sitting at the same time, most of whom had also served in the Gaza envelope in the past and knew the vulnerabilities of the inner "horseshoe" communities. And even if they didn't know, this dangerous weakness is clearly visible on any map. In any case, at the end of the investigation, no personal conclusions or recommendations were made to take action against any of the senior commanders, as the IDF had instructed.
The Massacre in Nir Oz – Timeline
6:40 AM - After about 450 rocket and mortar launches toward the Kissufim outpost area, the first indications of terrorist breaches from the border fence are received at the brigade's command center.
6:42 AM - The Southern Brigade commander responsible for the area, Colonel Asaf Hamami, leaves the division's base in Re'im toward Kibbutz Nirim, near Nir Oz. He declares "war status" on the communication network and calls for emergency response teams and special units to be deployed before being killed in battle near the entrance to Nirim.
6:45 AM - Two of the three observation posts in the area fall in a precise Hamas attack on the IDF's observation towers. No rear element processes the difficult footage being streamed from the only observation post still operating.
6:49 AM - Two vehicles from the nearby trance party enter Nir Oz, but the next three cars of partygoers following them are hit by fire from the first terrorists invading Nir Oz from its northern corner.
6:51 AM - Sagi Dagan Chen, later a captivity survivor, reports hearing exchanges of fire in the area. His bravery as an observer for the emergency response team prevented an even larger massacre.
6:51 AM - Sagi Dagan Chen, later a captivity survivor, reports hearing exchanges of fire in the area. His bravery as an observer for the emergency response team prevented an even larger massacre.
6:57 AM - The first and main wave of Hamas, consisting of about 150 Nukhba terrorists, takes over the kibbutz almost unopposed. They execute Bracha Levinson in front of her family and broadcast it live on Facebook.
7:00 AM - Golani fighters struggle to reach the kibbutz and nearby communities because they are engaged in containment battles in the area and the outposts themselves. During these minutes, five fighters are killed and 17 are wounded in the dining room of the nearby R&D base, from which a force was supposed to deploy to the kibbutz.
7:05 AM - All officers from the R&D base are killed. There is no command and control over the Nir Oz area. Brigade Commander Hamami is declared missing.
7:08 AM - Golani officer Captain Omer Wolf, may he rest in peace, manages to give a critical order before being killed in battle at the "White House" outpost near Nir Oz: not to deploy toward the border as per the division's original protocol, but rather inland, toward the communities in the area. Wolf does not live to see his order carried out. Twenty minutes later, he also falls in battle.
7:14 AM - Sagi Dagan Chen reports in an internal WhatsApp group that there are terrorists in the kibbutz clinic dressed as soldiers. This report prevents wounded civilians from approaching what becomes a killing zone. The kibbutz's emergency response officer tries unsuccessfully to join a Golani force and goes on the attack himself. He is wounded by gunfire, extricates himself to his home's safe room, and struggles to make contact in the following hours due to reception difficulties. Seven members of the emergency response team, including armed civilians, become the only force fighting in the kibbutz against the Nukhba terrorists swarming every corner.
7:28 AM - The terrorists reach the living quarters of the kibbutz's Thai workers. A bloodbath ensues, exacerbated by language barriers and desperate cries of confusion. Nine workers are brutally murdered.
The last battle of the standby squad members. The destroyed home of Liat and Aviv Atzili.
7:49 AM - Ohad Yahalomi, around 50 years old, engages in battle with the terrorists. He is later abducted to Gaza and murdered during captivity.
8:20-8:30 AM - The terrorists focus on abductions. Residents trying to hide, flee, and split up are captured and taken into Hamas captivity, including Ofer, Erez, and Sahar Calderon, and Oded and Yocheved Lifshitz.
8:41 AM - The final battle of the emergency response team begins and lasts until 9:00 AM. During this time, Tamir Adar, Dolev Yehud, and Aviv Atzili, may they rest in peace, are killed. The others are wounded or abducted. The bravery of the small emergency response team delays the Nukhba terrorists for two hours of fierce fighting, but the IDF does not arrive.
8:45 AM - Abductions to Gaza continue. The Cooper family is abducted in their car. Ronen Engel is killed trying to prevent terrorists from abducting his family.
8:46 AM - Two companies from the 450th Battalion of the nearby Command and Staff College, on IDF General Staff readiness for the Gaza Division, arrive to fight at the Ma'on junction, but no IDF element directs the 150 fighters even to run the two kilometers on foot to nearby Nir Oz. The large force stops fighting at the junction due to another mission it receives—to reach Kissufim and Kerem Shalom. Along the way, the fighters rescue abductees, casualties, and encounter ambushes.
8:46 AM - Two companies from the 450th Battalion of the nearby Command and Staff College, on IDF General Staff readiness for the Gaza Division, arrive to fight at the Ma'on junction, but no IDF element directs the 150 fighters even to run the two kilometers on foot to nearby Nir Oz. The large force stops fighting at the junction due to another mission it receives—to reach Kissufim and Kerem Shalom. Along the way, the fighters rescue abductees, casualties, and encounter ambushes.
9:22 AM - The first IDF force arrives in Nir Oz, but from the air. A combat helicopter hovers over the community, requests authorization to fire within Israeli territory, but initial identification includes difficulty distinguishing between terrorists and residents. The helicopter takes fire from terrorists and is forced to make an emergency landing.
9:47 AM - The terrorists do not waste time in the siege they impose on residents barricaded in safe rooms. The burning of homes begins, and the first family, the Kadam Siman-Tovs, is killed.
9:55 AM - A lone tank arrives at the kibbutz's northern gate, fires at terrorists, and eliminates two of them. The force leaves for another combat zone without understanding what is happening inside the kibbutz. Their new objective—a hotspot where Golani fighters in an Namer near the border are left alone facing hordes of terrorists. The tank crew's actions later thwart the abduction of Bat-Sheva Yahalomi. Additional helicopters arriving in five sorties kill dozens of terrorists trying to infiltrate Nir Oz in the second wave, but also kill Efrat Katz, may she rest in peace. Mika and Yuval Engel are wounded by helicopter fire attacking the terrorist cell that abducted them to Gaza.
10:08 AM - Matan Tzengauker is abducted from the kibbutz, and minutes later, his partner, Ilana Gritzhevsky, is abducted separately. Na'ama Dagan Chen testifies about these moments: "I saw the combat helicopter hitting terrorists and abducted civilians. I was wounded and played dead—that's how I survived."
Matan and Ilana were abducted separately
11:15 AM - The only force sent to Nir Oz, a General Staff Reconnaissance Unit team, encounters a large Nukhba ambush at the Ma'on junction. During an hour and a half of fighting, the team commander is killed. After clearing the junction, the force decides to head to the nearby kibbutzim of Re'im and Be'eri, as harsh reports about them accumulate. No further reports come from Nir Oz.
11:55 AM - Carmela and Noa Dan, may they rest in peace, a grandmother and granddaughter, are the last to be murdered in Kibbutz Nir Oz.
1:10 PM - A force from the Border Police's undercover unit is the first to enter the kibbutz, 40 minutes after the last of the hundreds of terrorists leave Nir Oz. The YAMAS fighters can only rescue the surviving residents and treat the wounded.
Key Mistakes and Lessons
There were no operational processes to analyze the images from observations, combat helicopters, and residents' reports due to the collapse of command and control and the lack of recognition and understanding by the General Staff and Southern Command amid the flood of reports from combat zones. Until 4:00 PM, there was no situational picture of what was happening in the kibbutz, as Golani forces in the area were fighting in nearby communities like Kissufim, and no one in the IDF thought to contact Nir Oz's emergency response officer.
The nearby R&D camp of Nir Oz, whose fighters were supposed to protect, among other things, the kibbutz, was not built like an outpost and was actually constructed similarly to the Nahal Oz base. Consequently, it was captured relatively quickly, and the forces there engaged in containment battles instead of going out to protect the nearby communities. However, the investigation concluded that in any case, the base should not have fallen as it did.
**Omer Wolf**
The first to notice the mistake. Captain Omer Wolf, of blessed memory.
A central mistake highlighted in the investigation: The structured procedure of the Gaza Division was to first protect the border and not the communities adjacent to it, including Nir Oz. Because of this mistake, a precious hour was wasted during which forces did not reach the communities near the fence. The first to notice this and issue different instructions was Captain Omer Wolf of the Golani Brigade, who was killed in battle 20 minutes later. In Southern Command and the Gaza Division, no outpost was ever established to act as a buffer between the kibbutz and the border, something that is only being done now.
The standby squad of Nir Oz had 16 positions, but in reality, only nine were manned. Seven were present in the kibbutz that morning, and all were either kidnapped or murdered. Four of them operated as an enhanced team, while the other three, along with three armed civilians, fought near their homes against the masses of terrorists.
The investigation determined that even if there had been 16 standby squad members, they would not have been able to stop the attack without the IDF—which did not arrive. The recommendation from the investigation is that in every community near a hostile border, at least 10% of its residents should have a long weapon at home, not just a personal handgun, in addition to the local standby squad.
**The Forgotten Kibbutz**
The main reason for the major failure in Nir Oz, according to the investigation, was the non-arrival of forces. The decision by Southern Command early on to flood the Gaza envelope with forces was correct but insufficient: it did not include focusing and directing forces to specific locations, so many soldiers stopped at the first combat zone they encountered or drove on their own to sporadic calls they received via phone or WhatsApp. Nir Oz, which, as mentioned, is not located on the main road, suffered from being forgotten and ignored.
Command and control capabilities in the kibbutz area collapsed, and the chain of command ceased to function early that morning—from the brigade commander Hamami down to platoon commanders and squad leaders who were killed.
Hamas attacked several focal points simultaneously in the central Gaza envelope, and the ambushes it set up on Route 232 hit reinforcement forces moving south to the Eshkol region, which remained sparser compared to the northern envelope. 90% of the forces were stopped at the Re’im junction, between the Gaza Division base, which was captured by Hamas, and the nearby Nova party.
**Nir Oz Kibbutz**
A symbol of abandonment. Destruction in a house in Kibbutz Nir Oz (Photo: Menahem KAHANA / AFP).From the south, forces from Division 80, coming from the Egyptian border, jumped in to assist and fought in communities like Kerem Shalom, preventing the capture of communities in the Shalom region, but were stopped at Nir Yitzhak due to a lack of sufficient forces and unawareness of what was happening in Nir Oz. Battalion 450 from the Bislach base of the squad commanders' course tried unsuccessfully to capture the Ma’on junction as a key point on the way to Nir Oz but split off to two other kibbutzim, leaving Nir Oz isolated. As mentioned, a small force from the General Staff Reconnaissance Unit later managed to capture the junction, but this was in the afternoon, when it was no longer relevant to Nir Oz.
Southern Command blamed Unit 8200 not only for blindness and deafness in the period leading up to the invasion but also for the long and difficult day of the massacre. Had SIGINT (signals intelligence) surveillance been activated on cellular and communication device locations throughout that day, it would have been possible to identify the large movement of hundreds of terrorists within Nir Oz.
Two platoons of the Egoz Unit were on standby on Friday for the Gaza Division at the Tze’elim base, but they were sent to reinforce Judea and Samaria. Even so, the investigation raised doubts about their relevance to Nir Oz specifically, as this force could have equally fought in other battle zones. Link
PM files police complaint against former Shin Bet chief Argaman, accusing him of blackmail
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu files a complaint with the police against former Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman, accusing him of “threatening and blackmailing a sitting prime minister” during an interview aired on Channel 12 last night. link
It’s very interesting to note that he is filing a complaint about exposing discussions between the two of them, but not of lies
PM files police complaint against former Shin Bet chief Argaman, accusing him of blackmail
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu files a complaint with the police against former Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman, accusing him of “threatening and blackmailing a sitting prime minister” during an interview aired on Channel 12 last night. link
It’s very interesting to note that he is filing a complaint about exposing discussions between the two of them, but not of lies
Amid personnel shortages, IDF planning to draft soldiers with lower medical scores to combat service
In an attempt to deal with its personnel shortages, the IDF is planning to draft soldiers with lower medical profiles to combat service, the Ynet news site reports.
The military has said that it currently requires some 12,000 new soldiers — 75 percent of whom will be combat troops — for current and future challenges.
When soldiers are recruited they are given a medical profile that determines where they can serve.
A profile of 97 means the soldier is perfectly healthy and fit for combat service; 82 indicates they have a slight health problem that prevents them from serving in elite units; 72 means they have a moderate health problem preventing them from serving in infantry units but are eligible for other combat units, such as the Armored Corps, Artillery Corps, light infantry brigades, and aerial defense array; and a profile of 64 indicates they have a more serious health problem that makes them unfit for combat roles, aside from the Military Police’s Erez Battalion which operate some West Bank checkpoints.
According to the Ynet report, the IDF plans to draft those with a profile of 64 to the Armored Corps and the Border Defense Corps’ light infantry battalions.
Other efforts are being made to handle the personnel shortages, including opening new units for ultra-Orthodox men — who mainly don’t serve — as well as encouraging more women to serve in combat
In the interview, Argaman claimed to be sitting on a trove of information that would compromise the prime minister and threatened to make it public if Netanyahu breaks the law. link.
Amid personnel shortages, IDF planning to draft soldiers with lower medical scores to combat service
In an attempt to deal with its personnel shortages, the IDF is planning to draft soldiers with lower medical profiles to combat service, the Ynet news site reports.
The military has said that it currently requires some 12,000 new soldiers — 75 percent of whom will be combat troops — for current and future challenges.
When soldiers are recruited they are given a medical profile that determines where they can serve.
A profile of 97 means the soldier is perfectly healthy and fit for combat service; 82 indicates they have a slight health problem that prevents them from serving in elite units; 72 means they have a moderate health problem preventing them from serving in infantry units but are eligible for other combat units, such as the Armored Corps, Artillery Corps, light infantry brigades, and aerial defense array; and a profile of 64 indicates they have a more serious health problem that makes them unfit for combat roles, aside from the Military Police’s Erez Battalion which operate some West Bank checkpoints.
According to the Ynet report, the IDF plans to draft those with a profile of 64 to the Armored Corps and the Border Defense Corps’ light infantry battalions.
Other efforts are being made to handle the personnel shortages, including opening new units for ultra-Orthodox men — who mainly don’t serve — as well as encouraging more women to serve in combat
In the interview, Argaman claimed to be sitting on a trove of information that would compromise the prime minister and threatened to make it public if Netanyahu breaks the law. link.
The Region and the World- In apparent about face, Rubio signs onto G7 statement backing resumption of Gaza aid
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has signed onto a joint statement with fellow G7 members calling for a resumption of aid into Gaza and the establishment of a political horizon for the Palestinians, and expressing concern over recent hostilities in the West Bank — all stances that have not been vocalized by the Trump administration to date.
The joint statement was still apparently softened at the State Department’s request, containing no mention of a two-state solution and keeping the line on recent West Bank hostilities vague, without any mention of settler violence, which has raged in recent years with very little government pushback.
Still, Rubio got on board with the lines regarding the West Bank, humanitarian aid for Gaza and a political horizon for the Palestinians that seemed out of step with the rhetoric that has so far come from the Trump administration.
Washington hasn’t spoken out once against settler violence since Trump took office in January, and Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office that removed a sanctions regime that his predecessor Joe Biden had put in place against violent settlers.
The US backed Israel’s decision earlier this month to begin withholding aid from Gaza, arguing that assistance shouldn’t be resumed until a “safe framework” is instituted to ensure that it can’t be diverted to Hamas.
On the issue of a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, too, the Trump administration has been largely mum, avoiding any public backing for a two-state solution, which most of the international community supports.
It was not immediately clear whether the decision to sign onto the G7 statement was made because the document is seen as symbolic and unlikely to have a tangible impact on the ground, or because the Trump administration is using it to demonstrate a shift in its positions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The statement from the top diplomats of the US Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the EU begins by calling for the release of all hostages from Gaza and stresses “the harm inflicted on the hostages during their captivity and the violation of their dignity through the use of ‘handover ceremonies’ during their release.”
The foreign ministers “reiterated that Hamas can have no role in Gaza’s future and must never again be a threat to Israel,” the statement says.
They also “affirmed their readiness to engage with Arab partners on their proposals to chart a way forward on reconstruction in Gaza and build a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace.” link This clearly shows that Netanyahu was not the 'last person in the room' with Trump to influence him against this G7 statement. It could mean one of two things (maybe more). One is as I said, that Netanyahu missed influencing Trump on this statement or that Trump is getting fed up on Netanyahu's obstinance and refusing the end the war no matter what. We will see if this statement gets reversed on the part of Rubio as told to by Trump or that when Netanyahu calls Trump in a rage about this statement, Trump will tell him 'tough'.
Personal Stories "I helped a Nukhba terrorist swallow a pill. It killed me" | Inside the most secure hospital in the countryAn exclusive glimpse: 98 inmates are hospitalized in a special unit at Ayalon Prison, including the most dangerous terrorists. "The hand I use to monitor blood pressure and check pulses is the same hand that committed atrocities," says nurse Yulia, sharing the moment she broke down and started crying. In the criminal ward, a weapons dealer turned caregiver confidently states: "This will be my last prison term."
At the heart of Ayalon Prison, behind high walls and heavy iron gates, lies one of the most unique and hidden hospitals in Israel—the Israel Prison Service (IPS) hospital. Entering it feels like stepping into any high-security detention wing: heavy iron doors, thick bars, and prison guards stationed throughout. But once the door closes behind you, a completely different reality is revealed. Large spaces filled with neatly arranged hospital beds, the beeping of medical equipment in the background, and carts with medical supplies scattered across the hallways.
98 patients and injured individuals are hospitalized here, and despite the routine hum of monitors, this is no ordinary hospital. No one is discharged to go home. The upper floor houses dangerous terrorists, including members of the Nukhba force who carried out the massacres in the south. The floor below is the geriatric ward, where criminal inmates in the most severe medical conditions are treated—those who couldn’t be cared for in the regular prison clinics.
"The medical release law has strict limitations and requires proof that the inmate is in their final moments," explains the hospital director, Deputy Warden Dr. Dmitry Klutsky, on why geriatric inmates aren’t released instead of building a special hospital for them. "I have a cancer patient here in critical condition, but since he could survive for six months, I can’t release him. Sometimes, the inmates themselves don’t want to be released because they lack a family support system to take them in."
**Treating a Nukhba Terrorist** In recent months, IPS Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi has pushed to position the prison hospital as a leading and advanced facility—partly to minimize the need to take terrorists outside the prison walls. "We’re initiating several new programs to provide medical care within the prison instead of sending security inmates to external treatments," says Dr. Klutsky. "We’ve established a complete medical system here, including blood transfusions, to prevent terrorists from being taken outside. With the help of a central hospital, we receive blood units for our facility."
According to Dr. Klutsky, "There are also many security inmates who need orthopedic surgeries. By policy, they are operated on in public hospitals, but after a short recovery, they return to our inpatient ward and don’t remain outside the prison. We’re doing everything to protect public safety while remaining human."
The last sentence reflects the complex situation the staff has faced since October 7, 2023. "Nurses treated terrorists who carried out the massacres in the south, and there were sessions with psychologists to process it—because it breaks you inside," says Dr. Klutsky. "Still, we are doctors, and despite all the difficulty, we save lives."
The hospital director, who joined the IPS 21 years ago and calls the place "home," is aware of public sentiment: "When asked how I can save the life of a Nukhba terrorist, I answer that we don’t judge or carry out punishments—we are doctors. Even if it’s hard to digest at times, medical duty comes above all else. My job is to save lives, regardless of who is lying on my bed." Security officials say that saving these lives also has security value: when a terrorist is alive and functional, they can be interrogated for valuable intelligence, such as the location of hostages or plans of terror organizations.
**Yulia, the Nurse** Yulia is one of the nurses in the security ward, dealing with the challenges of treating terrorists. She is a mother of two soldiers. Her son served in the south, and his base was destroyed on October 7. Her daughter serves in the north. Her husband, a YASAM police officer, had to identify the bodies of his comrades who were killed in the battles on October 7. Yet, many of her patients over the past year and a half took part in the atrocities of October 7 or other severe attacks. "It was never easy to treat them—but since the war began, it’s seven times harder," she admits.
"In the early days of the war, we had many moral questions—how to treat? Is it right to treat? We cried, we hurt, but in the end, we told ourselves that this is the mission the system assigned us, and this is what we must do. We serve in a hierarchical organization and do our jobs as we did before. My professional duty prevailed," she says.
Among other tasks, Yulia and her team treat Nukhba terrorists, some suffering from severe orthopedic injuries and fractures fixed with metal rods. They require full nursing care—from changing bandages to basic hygiene and taking vitals. "I know that the hand I use to monitor blood pressure and check pulses is the same hand that committed atrocities," she says.
Yulia recounts, "One of the first Nukhba terrorists brought to our hospital was bedridden and couldn’t lift his head. I had to hold his cup of water so he could swallow a pill and help him sip—and it killed me. Showing compassion to someone like that, knowing what he did, was unimaginable. He’s a rapist and murderer—yet we treated him. It’s a moment I still can’t get over. I remember leaving the room after the treatment and not being able to stop crying."
Since learning about the fate of Shiri Bibas and her children Ariel and Kfir, who were murdered in captivity, Yulia’s anguish has grown even more. "After all our hopes that the family might come out alive—something inside me broke," she explains. "I walk into the ward, and it’s even harder for me. If there was a goal—where is it now? Questions no one can answer."
**"This is my last prison term"** On the lower floor of the Ayalon Prison hospital is the criminal ward. Here, among the beds, it’s not just medical staff moving around—but also other criminal inmates, including those serving long sentences who choose to spend their time as caregivers for geriatric inmates. Among other tasks, they assist them, feed them, and bathe them. They are called "support inmates," and a glance at them reminds us that prison is not just a means of punishment—it also has a rehabilitative role, ensuring that inmates who are released don’t return later.
Dr. Klutsky says, "It’s hard to find those willing to take on this role, but some inmates feel it gives them meaning. They’re not here for the money."
**Inmate Y.** Y., a criminal inmate from East Jerusalem serving four and a half years for weapons trafficking, is one of the "support inmates." This is his third prison term, but now he claims the role he’s taken has changed him. "Outside, I used to harass people, but here something happened to me," he tells Dr. Klutsky. "I sat alone at night, thought about what I’ve been through here, and realized—instead of harming, why not help?"
"You need immense mental strength to change a diaper or care for someone helpless," he tells the doctor. "But then I realize not only am I doing it, I’m even enjoying it."
Dr. Klutsky listens as the inmate continues: "I have four kids, and I never changed a single diaper for any of them. And here, I’m caring for elderly and geriatric inmates, doing everything for them from A to Z. One is 70 years old, another is disabled and can’t move—and I’m the one taking care of him. They told me I could be a caregiver outside too, and that doesn’t seem like a far-fetched idea anymore."
"Maybe when I’m released, I’ll go back to school and become a nurse," he says. "I hope this is it, that this is my last prison term. Something changed in me. Even my family is surprised by how I talk now. I feel like someone took what was in my head and threw it in the trash. I recommend other inmates join this initiative, but it’s not for everyone. You have to deal with heavy responsibility. It changes you."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has signed onto a joint statement with fellow G7 members calling for a resumption of aid into Gaza and the establishment of a political horizon for the Palestinians, and expressing concern over recent hostilities in the West Bank — all stances that have not been vocalized by the Trump administration to date.
The joint statement was still apparently softened at the State Department’s request, containing no mention of a two-state solution and keeping the line on recent West Bank hostilities vague, without any mention of settler violence, which has raged in recent years with very little government pushback.
Still, Rubio got on board with the lines regarding the West Bank, humanitarian aid for Gaza and a political horizon for the Palestinians that seemed out of step with the rhetoric that has so far come from the Trump administration.
Washington hasn’t spoken out once against settler violence since Trump took office in January, and Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office that removed a sanctions regime that his predecessor Joe Biden had put in place against violent settlers.
The US backed Israel’s decision earlier this month to begin withholding aid from Gaza, arguing that assistance shouldn’t be resumed until a “safe framework” is instituted to ensure that it can’t be diverted to Hamas.
On the issue of a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, too, the Trump administration has been largely mum, avoiding any public backing for a two-state solution, which most of the international community supports.
It was not immediately clear whether the decision to sign onto the G7 statement was made because the document is seen as symbolic and unlikely to have a tangible impact on the ground, or because the Trump administration is using it to demonstrate a shift in its positions regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The statement from the top diplomats of the US Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the EU begins by calling for the release of all hostages from Gaza and stresses “the harm inflicted on the hostages during their captivity and the violation of their dignity through the use of ‘handover ceremonies’ during their release.”
The foreign ministers “reiterated that Hamas can have no role in Gaza’s future and must never again be a threat to Israel,” the statement says.
They also “affirmed their readiness to engage with Arab partners on their proposals to chart a way forward on reconstruction in Gaza and build a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace.” link This clearly shows that Netanyahu was not the 'last person in the room' with Trump to influence him against this G7 statement. It could mean one of two things (maybe more). One is as I said, that Netanyahu missed influencing Trump on this statement or that Trump is getting fed up on Netanyahu's obstinance and refusing the end the war no matter what. We will see if this statement gets reversed on the part of Rubio as told to by Trump or that when Netanyahu calls Trump in a rage about this statement, Trump will tell him 'tough'.
Testimonies from Captivity by Returned Hostages
**Nili Margalit** 
A nurse at Soroka Hospital. Treated injured hostages. Released after 55 days in captivity: *"I saw honey in a cabinet. I remembered there’s a type of dressing, a honey dressing, that creates a chemical process that draws out all the infection from a wound. So I said, ‘Okay, there’s honey here, let’s try it. I don’t know what will happen in the end, but I don’t have anything else.’ And it worked—it was like magic."*
**Hagar Brodetz** 
Released with her three children and her neighbor’s 3-year-old daughter, Abigail Idan, after 51 days in captivity: *"You don’t feel anything—you’re not sick, but your soul empties out. There’s no hunger or smell, you’re just surviving for four small children. You don’t even cry—how can I cry? I need to protect the children in this hell... We weren’t allowed to speak loudly, we weren’t allowed to cry, laugh, or shout. Ofri learned to cry quietly, Yuvi had a very hard time crying quietly, but at some point, he managed."*
Sharon Aloni-Kunio
**Released with her 3-year-old daughters after 52 days in Hamas captivity. Her husband, David, is still in Gaza, as is his brother, Ariel:** *"There are 129 people sitting there, including my husband and brother-in-law, in conditions that are not conditions, dressed God knows how. The last time I left him, he was wearing half a sleeve—and they’re just shivering from the cold... I’m stuck. I’m in a daze. For me, life hasn’t continued since the moment I was separated from David. The girls have rage attacks they never had before October 7th."*
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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