🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 545, 2023

🎗️Day 545 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

There is no victory until all of the hostages are home!
‎אין נצחון עד שכל החטופים בבית

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

*IDF intercepts two rockets launched from northern Gaza at Sderot
Two rockets launched from the northern Gaza Strip at Sderot were intercepted by air defenses, the military says.
There are no reports of injuries or damage in the attack.

Hostage Updates

Hamas willing to release all hostages at once for permanent ceasefire, Palestinian official tells ToI
Israelis protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, calling for a deal to free the hostages near the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 31, 2025.(Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Hamas is prepared to release all of the remaining hostages at once, in exchange for a permanent ceasefire, a senior Palestinian official familiar with the ongoing truce talks tells The Times of Israel.
Given Israel’s rejection of this kind of trade, Hamas is still prepared to release a number of hostages in exchange for an additional temporary ceasefire.
However, it wants guarantees from the mediators that Israel will agree to subsequently enter negotiations for a permanent ceasefire — something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has, to date, refused to do, the senior Palestinian official says.
For months, Hamas refused Israeli and American offers to extend the ceasefire’s first phase, which ended on March 1. It insisted on sticking to the original terms of the January deal, which envisioned a transition to phase two on March 2. This phase is supposed to see the return of all remaining living hostages in exchange for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent end to the war. While Netanyahu signed onto the deal, he has long rejected those latter two clauses of phase two, arguing that this would allow Hamas to remain in power. Accordingly, the Israeli premier has largely refused to hold talks regarding phase two of the deal, which were supposed to begin on February 2. Israel resumed intensive military operations throughout Gaza on March 18.
While Hamas for months had refused to accept proposals to extend phase one of the deal, the senior Palestinian official tells The Times of Israel that the group recently submitted such a proposal.
He said the offer was very similar to the one US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff presented last month and would secure the release of five Israeli hostages.
However, the proposal also included guarantees from the mediators that Israel would agree to hold talks on the phase two permanent ceasefire once the truce extension is in place.
Smoke billows on the horizon, east of the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip, following an Israeli strike on April 2, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)
Israel rejected the Hamas offer and has countered with its own proposal that demands the release of 11 hostages and does not include a commitment to hold talks on a permanent ceasefire, the Palestinian official says, adding that this was not acceptable to Hamas. “The talks are now at a standstill.”
“The number of hostages is not the issue. If Israel demonstrates its intention to reach a permanent ceasefire, [Hamas is] prepared to release all of the hostages,” the Palestinian official says. “Israel only wants a partial agreement so that it can continue fighting. It wants [Hamas] to give up all the hostages without entering the second phase.”
While Hamas leaders will not agree to leave Gaza or disarm, the group is prepared to cede governing control of the Strip to independent Palestinian technocrats and agree to a years-long truce with Israel that includes “security arrangements,” the senior Palestinian official claims.
Hamas “will never disarm” before a Palestinian state has been created “because [it is] a resistance movement,” the official says.
The senior Palestinian official then calls into question what he describes as the erratic conduct of the Trump administration in the ongoing hostage negotiations, pointing to its willingness to dispatch hostage envoy Adam Boehler to meet directly with Hamas officials earlier this year before abruptly ending those talks, in light of Israeli pushback.
“How can you reach an agreement without speaking directly to [Hamas]? They were willing to do this with the Taliban,” the senior Palestinian official notes.
Witkoff appeared to principally argue in favor of direct talks with anyone the US is dealing with during an interview last month, but he ordered Boehler to halt his talks with Hamas shortly after they were leaked to the media last month, according to a US official familiar with the matter.
The senior Palestinian official says US President Donald Trump is the only one capable of ending the war, but has in the meantime decided to “give Netanyahu a green light to open the gates of hell on Gaza.” link The Hamas statement that they are willing to release all hostages at once has been the case since September when my brother negotiated with Hamas to do just that and end the war. Israel/Netanyahu rejected it then and has continued to reject the notion of ending the war. Whether it will bring all the hostages home or not doesn't matter to him at all and all of his BS statements about his caring about the hostages are just that -BS.
Hamas will not respond to Israel's counter Gaza ceasefire proposal, official says
Terror group says won’t engage with Israeli counterproposal; Al Jazeera reports plan includes demand to disarm Hamas, no full Gaza withdrawal and release of Israeli-American Edan Alexander without return conditions
Hamas decided not to respond or engage with Israel's counterproposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, an official told Reuters on Wednesday, affirming it is committed to the mediators' plan instead.
Israel said on March 29 that it conveyed to the mediators a counterproposal in full coordination with the U.S. after Hamas agreed to a proposal it received from mediators Egypt and Qatar, which included the release of five Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
Tel Aviv rally calling for release of hostages held in Hamas captivity
(Photo: Dana Kopel)

Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera, which aligns with Qatari mediation efforts, reported that Hamas accused Israel of undermining a proposal it had previously accepted. According to the network, Hamas agreed to a draft plan presented on March 27 that called for the release of five Israeli soldiers, including dual U.S.-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander, within 50 days, in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners—150 serving life sentences and 2,000 detainees from Gaza arrested after October 7.
The mediated framework also stipulated that the humanitarian situation would return to pre-March 2 conditions, including reopening border crossings and reinstating aid protocols. On the tenth day of the proposed ceasefire, both sides would exchange information on living and deceased hostages and detainees. The mediators committed to initiating talks within 50 days on a permanent ceasefire, full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a post-war governance arrangement.
Al Jazeera also published details of Israel’s counterproposal. It reportedly demanded that Hamas first release Alexander as a goodwill gesture with no reciprocal concession. On the first day of the agreement, Hamas would release 10 hostages in exchange for 120 life-sentence prisoners and 1,111 detainees from Gaza. Additionally, Israel requested the return of 16 deceased hostages in exchange for 160 Palestinian bodies.
Eden Alexander

The Israeli offer limited the deal to 40 days, with negotiations on new terms to begin on the second day of the ceasefire. According to the report, Israel made the dismantling of Hamas’ military capabilities and refusal to withdraw its forces from Gaza preconditions for any further negotiations. It also called for an international mechanism to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches civilians only. Meanwhile, amid criticism over his lack of direct engagement with all hostage families, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Wednesday that he spoke by phone with Tala Herkin, mother of hostage Maxim Herkin. According to the statement, Netanyahu congratulated Maxim’s younger brother, Pete, who marked his bar mitzvah this week, and reiterated his personal and national commitment to bringing all the hostages home.
Amit Soussana: Government hasn’t internalized what hostages are enduring in Gaza
Released hostage Amit Soussana laments in a Channel 12 interview that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has not internalized what the remaining hostages are going through in Gaza.
Speaking after winning the State Department’s 2025 International Award for Women yesterday, Soussana says it was hard for her to see the Trump administration’s commitment to the plight of the hostages, only to get back to her hotel after the ceremony and see that the IDF was further intensifying its military operations in Gaza, putting the hostages at risk.
The Israeli government is supposed to understand the plight of the hostages better than any other government, and yet it is acting against their interests, Soussana says.
“I don’t want want to imagine what they’re feeling there,” Soussana says, adding that the hope that the government is working to secure their release is the only thing that keeps hostages going and realizing that they are not being freed after two hostage deals breaks the heart of those left behind.
“To survive for so many days only to be killed by bombing, specifically by the IDF, breaks the heart,” Soussana says.
She reveals that Netanyahu has not reached out to her since she came forward in March 2024 about the sexual assault she endured while in captivity, and that, other than the foreign minister, no one from the government has.
Soussana says she thought coming forward would change the government’s approach, “but in practice, it didn’t change anything.”

Gaza and the South

Mass protest calling for Hamas’s ouster, end to the war held in Gaza’s Beit Lahiya
A mass protest is being held amid the ruins of northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, with crowds seen filling the streets, calling for the removal of Hamas and an end to the war.
The anti-Hamas protests were held for three consecutive days last week before appearing to die down amid reports that the terror group was threatening — and even killing — those who participated in the demonstrations. video. more videos
IDF says it struck 50 terror sites in Gaza last night, ahead of major ground op in southern Strip
Overnight, the Israeli Air Force carried out strikes on over 50 sites belonging to Hamas and other terror groups, ahead of a major ground push into the southern Gaza Strip, the military says.
During the day, dozens more strikes were carried out across Gaza, according to the IDF.
The goal of the latest offensive in southern Gaza is to surround Rafah and establish the so-called Morag Corridor, located between Rafah and Khan Younis.
The area between Rafah and Khan Younis is one of the few locations in Gaza where ground troops have not yet operated.
The IDF issued evacuation warnings for Palestinians in the area, ahead of the offensive.
Meanwhile, in the Strip’s north, the IDF says it operating to expand its buffer zone along the border.
The military stresses that the ultimate goal of the new ground push in southern Gaza’s Rafah is to pressure Hamas to release the hostages, as IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said this evening.
Hamas warns those who ‘spread chaos’ following killing of its police officer
A Gaza family’s open admission this week that they killed an officer from the Hamas-run police force after they said a relative was shot dead has added to signs of popular dissent against the terror group after 18 months of war with Israel.
It has now also drawn a warning from the Hamas-run interior ministry that it will not tolerate actions that undermine public order.
“We will not allow any party to spread chaos in Gaza Strip or take the law into its hands,” Hamas says in a statement, adding that it had begun measures to bring those involved to justice.
In a separate statement, Hamas says the killing of the officer was a crime that only “serves Zionist goals in breaking the internal Palestinian front and spreads chaos and anarchy.”
Hamas deployed thousands of police and security forces across Gaza after a ceasefire in January, but its armed presence has sharply reduced since Israel’s large scale attacks have resumed in the past weeks.
This year’s Ramadan sees 80% drop in terror attacks — IDF
The IDF and Shin Bet report a significant decrease in terrorist attacks in the West Bank during Ramadan, with an 80% drop compared to last year, according to a joint statement.
Security forces arrested 401 wanted suspects, eliminated 13 terrorists and seized 105 weapons during Ramadan this year as part of ongoing counterterrorism operations, the statement details.
According to the statement, last Ramadan saw 27 major attacks originating from the West Bank, while this year, only three occurred, attributed to intensified security efforts.
The IDF and the Shin Bet say that they will continue operations to prevent further threats and ensure the safety of Israeli citizens.
8 said killed in IDF strike on UNRWA clinic in Jabalia; army says site used by terrorists
Palestinian media reports at least eight dead in an Israeli airstrike on a UNRWA clinic in northern Gaza’s Jabalia this afternoon.
The military says the site was being used by terror operatives as a command center to plan attacks, as well as a meeting point.
IDF further investigating claims that troops in Gaza killed 15 medics, buried them in mass grave
Mourners gather around the bodies of 8 Red Crescent emergency responders, recovered in Rafah in the Gaza Strip, on March 31, 2025. (AP Photo/ Abdel Kareem Hana)
The military says it is further investigating claims made by the UN that 15 medics allegedly killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza’s Rafah last week were buried in a mass grave.
In a post on X, the IDF’s international media spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani says the incident “in which IDF forces opened fire targeting terrorists advancing in ambulances” on March 23 has been handed over to the military’s high-level General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism for investigation.
The mechanism is an independent military body responsible for investigating unusual incidents amid the war.
“The IDF places the utmost importance on maintaining communication with international organizations operating in Gaza and engages with them regularly,” Shoshani adds.
Hospital officials in Gaza say more than 50 people, including children, killed in overnight strikes
Yamama Jundia, 13, injured in an Israeli airstrike, grieves alongside others over the bodies of their relatives, who were killed in the same strike, at the Baptist Hospital in Gaza City on Thursday, April 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Health officials in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip say at least 55 people, including more than a dozen children, were killed in Israeli strikes across the enclave overnight.
In southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, officials say the bodies of 14 people were taken to Nasser Hospital — nine of them from the same family. They say the dead include five children and four women.
The bodies of another 19 people, including five children aged between 1 and 7 years and a pregnant woman, were taken to the European hospital near Khan Younis, hospital officials say.
In Gaza City, 21 bodies are said to have been taken to Ahli hospital, including those of seven children.
The figures could not be verified, and don’t differentiate between combatants and civilians.
Since resuming operations in the Gaza Strip on March 18, the IDF has said it is targeting senior Hamas political officials and mid-level military commanders. Members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terror groups have also been targeted.
The IDF has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and accuses Hamas of embedding itself in civilian infrastructure, including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.

Northern Israel, Lebanon and Syria

IDF confirms Syrian airstrikes, saying it struck ‘remaining military capabilities’ at Hama military airport, T-4 airbase
The IDF confirms launching a series of airstrikes in Syria in the last hour, saying it struck “remaining military capabilities” at the Hama military airport and T-4 airbase.
The strikes targeted the runways, fuel depots, and radars at the air bases, according to military sources.
Israeli Air Force aircraft also struck “military infrastructure” in the Damascus area, the IDF says. According to Syrian media, the Barzeh scientific research center, just outside Damascus, was hit.
Lebanese media reports two injured in Israeli strike targeting car near Bint Jbeil

Syrian local government says 9 killed in Israeli bombardment overnight
The provincial government in southern Syria’s Daraa says nine civilians were killed and several were injured in Israeli bombardment following an “Israeli incursion.”
It says in a statement posted to Telegram that the shelling near the Syrian city of Nawa came after “an Israeli incursion” in the area. It says that this was the deepest into Syria that Israeli forces have advanced thus far.
Nawa is located some 9 kilometers from Tasil, where the IDF says Israeli troops operated overnight.
The military said a short while ago that while in the southern Syrian town, located beyond the demilitarized buffer zone along the border, troops came under fire from several gunmen, and retaliated with both ground and aerial strikes.

West Bank, Jerusalem, Israel and Terror Attacks

Palestinians say one killed in Israeli raid on West Bank
The Palestinian Authority health ministry says that one man was killed during a raid in the West Bank by Israel’s military, which did not confirm the killing.
“The young man, Hamza Muhammad Saeed Khammash (33 years old), was shot and killed by occupation (Israeli) forces in the Old City of Nablus,” the ministry says in a statement.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military says “the incident is under review.”
Official Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli forces arrested three people, including Khammash’s brother during the raid.
An AFP journalist reports that hundreds of Palestinians marched through the narrow streets of Nablus’s Old City for Khammash’s funeral earlier today.
Khammash’s body was covered in a Palestinian flag and his head wrapped in a keffiyeh scarf as men carried him through the streets ahead of crying relatives including his mother.
Since the start of the Gaza war, violence has soared in the West Bank.
Israeli troops or settler attacks have killed at least 915 Palestinians in the West Bank since then, according to the PA health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel is in the midst of a months-long counter terror campaign in the West Bank.
Palestinian attacks and clashes during military raids have killed at least 32 Israelis, including soldiers, over the same period, according to official figures.
IDF says Palestinian suspect killed after hurling explosives at troops near Jenin, in the West Bank
The IDF says that troops of the Nahal Brigade killed a Palestinian suspect overnight after he hurled explosives at troops operating in the village of Silat al-Harithiya, near Jenin.
Two other suspects were injured in the exchange of fire, the IDF says, adding that no injuries were sustained by Israeli troops.
The military says that the incident occurred amid a counterterrorism operation in the northern West Bank in cooperation with the Shin Bet and Israel Police.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, security forces say they arrested eight wanted individuals and seized two Carlo submachine guns. The detainees and weapons have been handed over to the Shin Bet and Israeli police for further investigation, according to the statement.
The IDF says that it will continue its counterterrorism operations in order to ensure the security of Israeli citizens.
17 settlers arrested for attacking cops near illegal outpost, setting fire to police car

Burnt police vehicle that was set on fire by settlers from the Givat Habaladim outpost on April 2, 2025. (Israel Police)
Dozens of Israeli settlers from the illegal Givat Habaladim outpost attacked police officers and set fire to a cop car last night.
Police say they arrested 17 wedding attendees near the outpost, located near Kochav Hashachar in the northern West Bank, after they assaulted a cop who was called to deal with a noise complaint from the event.
“When the patrol car arrived to handle the noise nuisance, dozens of rioters began throwing stones at it,” a spokesman says. Settlers punctured its tires before setting the vehicle on fire.
In response, an officer fired several bullets into the air and called additional forces to the area, who later arrested the 17 suspects.
Settler leader Yisrael Ganz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council whose jurisdiction includes the illegal outpost, denounces the attack on police and alleges the assailants hail from outside the region.
“Such crime and violence should be met with an iron fist. It seems that the drunken young men came from outside Binyamin, and I expect and ask the police to get their hands on everyone who was involved,” he says to Israel Hayom.
Following the incident, a joint investigation was opened by the Shin Bet and the West Bank District’s investigations and intelligence unit. link The Council head's claim that they came from outside the area are the typical claims about all the settler violence. Here, we see arrests only because police were attacked. In almost all the incidents of the settler violence against Palestinians, it is rare to have any settlers arrested even when the army or police are onsite and witness some of the violence. Even in this case, I am extremely pessimistic about any of those settlers being indicted and brought to trial and convicted.

Politics and the War and General News

‘We are tired of waiting for the next call-up notice,’ reservist wife says at rally for universal enlistment
Yael and one-year-old daughter Atalia take part in rally for universal military enlistment in Jerusalem on April 2, 2025. (Rossella Tercatin/Times of Israel)
Speaking with The Times of Israel at a march demanding ultra-Orthodox conscription, a young mother expresses her frustration at the current situation that sees tens of thousands of eligible ultra-Orthodox men refusing to serve in the IDF.
“My husband is in his third round of service,” says Yael from Or Yehuda, as she holds her one-year-old Atalia.
“He was away in the last months of my pregnancy and after our baby was born, Yael adds. “Everyone needs to enlist so that there are more people who can take turns in serving.”
Several thousand people join the march as it leaves Mount Herzl in the direction of the Knesset. The march is promoted by bereaved families and leading reservist organizations, including El HaDegel, the Forum of Reservist Wives, Shotafut LeSherut, and the Religious Zionist Forum of Reservists.
The rally takes place amid a deep social and political crisis, as the ultra-Orthodox community refuses to relinquish the blanket military exemptions its young men have received for decades.
In June, the High Court of Justice ruled that these exemptions could no longer be extended and that the IDF must begin drafting military-age Haredi men. However, ultra-Orthodox parties — key members of the governing coalition — have resisted any compromise to implement the ruling.
The government, for its part, has shown little political will to resolve the issue, even as Israel remains embroiled in a prolonged war triggered by Hamas’s brutal October 7 attack. With the IDF stretched thin on multiple fronts, the demand for soldiers, especially in combat positions, has significantly increased in the past 18 months.
Report: Netanyahu twice asked Shin Bet to act against political opponents
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has twice reportedly asked the Shin Bet to act against political opponents.
The first incident took place in 2014, Israeli reporter Ben Caspit says on 103FM radio.
Netanyahu called then-Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen and told him that he had information that then-security cabinet minister Naftali Bennett had been kicked out of the elite Sayeret Matkal unit. Netanyahu told Cohen to verify if the information was true and revoke Bennett’s security clearance — a move that would have likely ended Bennett’s career. Cohen refused Netanyahu’s request.
Last month, Cohen told Channel 12 that Netanyahu had asked him more than once during his tenure to carry out “illegitimate acts” and voiced concern that the next head of the security agency would not stand up to him in the face of such demands.
A second incident in which Netanyahu asked the Shin Bet to intervene in political affairs came in 2019, according to Caspit. It was the eve of the Knesset election and Netanyahu realized his right-wing bloc would not have enough seats to form a coalition due to the strong performance by then-Blue and White party chair Benny Gantz.
Netanyahu phoned then-Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman and demanded that he declare Gantz unfit to be prime minister due to reports that the Blue and White chief’s phone had been allegedly hacked by Iranian operatives. Argaman refused, Caspit says.

The Region and the World

Personal Stories

'Waiting for them to say it's a mistake': Teen survivors of October 7 talk about their murdered fathers still in Gaza
Ofir Sharabi and Noga Weiss, childhood friends bound by the loss of their fathers in Hamas' attacks, recount their fractured lives — caught between clinging to hope for a miracle and confronting the trauma of a grief that refuses to heal
When 16-year-old Ofir Sharabi speaks about her father, Yossi, who was murdered in captivity and whose body remains in Gaza, she does so in the present tense. "My father was kidnapped alive. I saw it with my own eyes. I can't believe anything else because I have no proof. Don't tell me otherwise," she says in a rare interview with Ynet.

Beside her sits 19-year-old Noga Weiss, her childhood friend and fellow Kibbutz Be'eri member. In her first interview since being released from captivity in Gaza, Noga recalls her father, Ilan, who was murdered on October 7 and whose body is also being held in Gaza. "I understand that he's dead but I still hope that one day I'll get a call saying it was a mistake. I'm still waiting for his hug."

Ofir Sharabi and Noa Weiss (Photo: Ziv Koren)

A hug — that’s all they want. In a world where the ground has crumbled beneath them, a simple embrace has become an unattainable dream. They share their trauma from October 7, the near-impossible struggle to return to normal life and their urgent plea to bring back their fathers and all the other hostages. "Everything can wait but not this. It's life or death — for them and for us."

‘We've known each other since birth’ That morning, Ofir was at home with her father, Yossi, her mother, Nira, and her sisters, Oren and Yuval. Noga was with her parents, Shiri and Ilan, while her older sisters were in another part of the kibbutz. "We ran to the safe room," Noga recalls. "Soon after, my father, a member of the local alert squad, was called up. They told him there was a terrorist infiltration and that he needed to open the weapons safe. He said he'd be back in a few minutes and asked us to leave a key outside." Minutes passed, but he never returned. "After five minutes, he was no longer reachable," Noga says. "We texted him that terrorists were approaching. We thought he would come save us but he never responded. At 10:30 a.m., they broke into our house. My mom told me to hide under the bed. Then they stormed the safe room and took her." From under the bed, Noga saw everything. "I texted people: 'They're kidnapping my mom.' After they took her, the terrorists stayed in the house and started setting it on fire. The door to the safe room had been forced open and the smoke filled the air — I couldn’t breathe. I decided I'd rather be shot than burn alive. I climbed out the window and saw terrorists and weapons everywhere.

Yossi and Ofir Sharabi

“I tried to hide behind a bush, but one of them spotted me within 10 minutes. He dragged me to a neighbor’s lawn, forced me to sit on the ground and tied my hands behind my back. As we moved, all I saw were bodies. I thought no one was left alive — not even my mom. I kept asking myself when my turn would come. I didn’t understand why they hadn’t shot me yet." Noga didn’t realize she was being kidnapped. "They put me in a vehicle with the terrorists and we started driving," she says. "I didn't see a single Israeli alive. I thought they were taking me to be executed. I wasn’t afraid of death; I had already accepted it. When my older sisters texted that there was gunfire near their home, I assumed they had been killed. I spent my entire captivity believing I had no family left. Thankfully, they survived." In Gaza, Noga was taken to a house where she met Moran Stella Yanai. They remained together until Noga’s release, four days before Moran's. On the 14th day of captivity, Noga’s mother was brought to the house where she was held. "When I saw her, I realized I still had family, that I wasn't alone," she recalls. "Even though I was in Gaza, it was the best day of my life." Noga quietly recounts the chilling moment when a terrorist brought her a ring. "Among the guards, one was the most terrifying. When he got angry, he would enter the room with a gun — he was the 'bad cop.' Moran and I noticed that I was the one who had to ask him for things, that he was more attached to me. We would say, 'This is the kind of man who would kill his wife someday.' “One day, he came to me with a ring and said, 'You're going to marry me, stay in Gaza, bear my children and raise them here. All the hostages will be released but you'll stay because we’ll be married. Israel won’t care about you because they'll think you married me willingly.' I was in shock, panicked, not knowing how to react."

Ilan and Noga Weiss

Luckily, he wasn’t there when she was freed. Yet even her release was traumatic — she and Moran were separated without warning. "We insisted on being released together and they told us, 'Yes, yes, of course.' Then, outside the house, they suddenly split us up without a word." ‘Why am I alive?’ During those fateful hours, Ofir lost everything she knew. Her father was kidnapped, her uncle taken as well and her aunt Lian, along with her cousins Yahel and Noya — whom she had grown up with — were murdered. Another cousin, Idan Herman, was murdered at the Nova music festival. "People don’t understand the trauma we’ve been through and are still living with," Ofir says. "We put everything aside to focus on what matters most — bringing my father home — but we have so much else to deal with. I don’t talk about it much. “I don’t want people to know my story before they know me, especially now at a new school. But I’m stuck in that day. I can’t even begin to process or heal. My body won’t let me. We want the hostages back not just for them but for us, for our souls, to return to life." A few weeks ago, her uncle Eli Sharabi was released from captivity. "When he came back, it was incredible but it was bittersweet because for me, it's not over. My father is still there. That puts me in a really difficult place. I carry so much fear. If I see someone who looks like a terrorist, I freeze — I just want to run. And then there’s this thought: Why am I alive?"

Eli Sharabi at the UN (Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar)

Noga shares similar feelings, mourning her uncle Gil and cousin Inbar, who was killed fighting on October 7. "I constantly feel guilt. Why am I alive and they’re not? It never leaves me." Despite her ordeal, Noga chose to enlist in the IDF. "I struggled with the decision," she says. "After captivity, I didn't think I could stay in Israel. I was afraid, unsure if I could ever feel safe here. But gradually, I realized that to reclaim my life, I needed to follow my plan and enlist. It also feels like a way to help bring the hostages home. My mom supported me — she saw how much I wanted it." For Ofir, resuming normal life means adjusting to a new school. "I attend, but they expect me to study and I’m just not there. My mind is with my father. Where is he? What’s happening to him? When will he come back? That’s all I think about. I don’t want to be like this — I want to be with friends, to have fun, to focus on my exams." Ofir clings to hope. "My dad is the most present person in my life — I can’t imagine it without him. You can't not love him. Even the terrorists liked him. He has no bad in him, only good. We shared the same passions.

Moran Stella Yanai in Israel (Photo: Herzl Yosef)

“He taught me to surf and I keep doing it because that’s where I feel him the most. My biggest fear is that when he returns, I’ll have to face the reality that he’s gone. I won’t accept that thought. I refuse to believe he won’t come back."

Noga feels the same about her father, Ilan. "If he had to choose how to die, it would be this way — defending the kibbutz and our home. He was selfless, always helping others. Even if he knew he was going to die, he would still have done it. I was always a daddy’s girl. If he was around, I felt safe. I would go through everything again just to have grown up with him." link

Acronyms and Glossary

COGAT - Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories

ICC - International Criminal Court in the Hague

IJC - International Court of Justice in the Hague

IPS - Israel Prison System

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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