🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 571, 2023 - April 29, 2025 🎗️
- ‘I cannot celebrate my independence’: Yarden Bibas urges social media users to highlight captives’ plightFormer hostage Yarden Bibas has issued a plea to Israelis to highlight the plight of the 59 remaining captives during this week’s Independence Day, a call joined by other captivity survivors and relatives of abductees.
“On Israel’s 76th Independence Day, I was in a tunnel and didn’t think that Israel was celebrating Independence Day while at war and with hostages in captivity,” Bibas says on Facebook and Instagram. “Now, on the 77th Independence Day, the war is still ongoing, and there are still hostages in captivity — only this time, I am home.”
“This year, I cannot celebrate my independence because I have brothers and sisters who are still being held hostage and my heart is still there with them,” he continues. “I will not be able to heal or rest until they return.
“Join me: Add the caption ‘I have no independence because they are still there’ to your profile picture and share it on social media,” Bibas asks the public, alongside a photo of himself holding a piece of paper with those words in Hebrew.
Other ex-hostages, including Arbel Yehoud, Shani Goren and Omer Wenkert, quickly join the campaign with posts of themselves holding banners with the same slogan.
Einav Zangauker, father of hostage Matan Zangauker, joins as well, writing that “as long as our boys and girls are held [in Gaza], we can’t celebrate Independence Day. The Jewish people has no independence while they are there. We must end the war and [reach] a deal to free them all to truly feel independence again.”
- After claim of breakthrough, Israeli sources deny significant progress in hostage-ceasefire talks
Multiple Israeli news outlets quickly cite sources denying claims of a breakthrough in the negotiations with the Hamas terror group for a ceasefire and hostage deal.
Reuters has cited two Egyptian security sources saying there has been a “significant breakthrough” in the talks, adding that there is a consensus on a long-term ceasefire in Gaza, yet some sticking points remain, including Hamas arms.
But the Walla news site cites an unnamed senior Israeli source saying there has been no breakthrough, the Kan public broadcaster attributes the same thing to an Israeli source, and Ynet cites Israeli sources saying there hasn’t been meaningful progress and Jerusalem won’t agree to a yearslong truce that doesn’t include the disarmament of Hamas.
Earlier Monday, a senior Israeli official said Israel would not accept a five-year ceasefire deal being pushed for by mediators. LINK I have said throughout the war that there is lots of spin and speculation whenever there are hostage talks and now is no exception. We have to keep in mind two things when we read or hear anything about the negotiations. No matter how much pressure is put on Hamas with threats and promises, their bottom line will never change. Their bottom line for the release of all the hostages is to end the war (even if it is called a long term ceasefire), the release of large numbers of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons including many serving life sentences for the murders of Israelis, and a full pullback of all Israeli forces. These 3 points have been their bottom line since the beginning of the war and they will never change even if Hamas is on its knees and choking for breath. The second thing that we must remember is that Netanyahu is first and foremost concerned with himself, his personal and political self interests and ending the war at this time is against his self interests. So, no matter what the negotiating partners bring to him, he will reject anything and everything that even hints at declaring and end to the war. At this point in time, the only one who has the power to pressure Netanyahu to make this kind of deal is Trump. If Trump would apply the necessary pressure, as was done to get Netanyahu to agree to the Phase 1 of the last deal, Netanyahu would probably have no choice but to agree. In the past, both Smotrich and Ben Gvir threatened to bring down the government if he made a deal that also ended the war. At this point, Ben Gvir is most likely the only one who would actually leave the government. Smotrich will threaten but the likelihood of his following through is almost zero. He knows that if there are new elections in the near future, his party will not make the threshold to win seats in the Knesset. He is not willing to give up the power he currently yields as it is serving his messianic ideology more than ever before. Therefore, Netanyahu could make a deal and still maintain his coalition, at least in the near term.
- Israeli delegation led by Dermer in Cairo for hostage talks, Arab official says
An Israeli hostage negotiating team headed by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer reached Cairo last night, an Arab official tells The Times of Israel.
They remain in Egypt, amid optimistic reports in Arab media. Israeli officials continue to deny any major progress. link Unfortunately, any negotiating team led by Dermer is doomed to planned failure. Dermer will not do anything that Netanyahu does not want done, therefore even a discussion on ending the war won't be allowed to come up and that is the major bottom line item for Hamas to agree to any deal.
Senior Hamas official says Cairo ceasefire talks did not make any progressA senior Hamas official denies that the recent talks in Cairo made progress toward a ceasefire agreement with Israel in the Gaza Strip
Speaking to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad-linked Palestine Al-Youm news channel, the Hamas official states that the organization had not been presented with any new ideas regarding a ceasefire in Gaza, emphasizing that the organization opposes partial or temporary truce proposals.
On Saturday, all five members of the Hamas executive council were in Cairo and met with senior Egyptian officials. Last night, Reuters reported that there had been a breakthrough in the talks on an agreement, citing Egyptian sources.
Israeli officials have also denied that there had been a breakthrough in the talks, but stopped short of saying that there had not been any progress made.
- Official: Israel won’t accept 5-year Gaza truce, Qatar not helping hostage talks of late
An Israeli official says that the Qataris have “recently had an influence that was not positive on negotiations” to free hostages from Gaza.
An Arab official yesterday denied Hebrew media reports that Qatar had urged Hamas to reject a recent Egyptian proposal for a hostage-ceasefire deal amid the terror group’s ongoing war with Israel in the Gaza Strip. The source claimed that the reports are being “manufactured” by Israeli officials seeking to deflect blame for the failure of the talks away from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The official says there is “no chance” Israel will agree to the five-year ceasefire plan that Arab mediators are discussing. “There is no chance that we will agree to a hudna with Hamas that just allows it to rearm, recover and to continue its war against Israel.”
Turning to Israel’s support of US President Donald Trump’s plan to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, the official says that “emigration is still not happening in large numbers. We have appeals from Western countries that want to bring their citizens out. Canada turned to us and said it has family members it wants to bring to Canada.”
Israel will let out anyone who wants to leave of their own volition, says the official, adding that there are countries willing to accept them.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza is still designed to slowly pressure Hamas in order to push it to accept Israel’s terms for a hostage deal, says the official, “but our patience isn’t endless.”
Speaking to reporters, the official also defends the Foreign Ministry campaign to have the Bank of Israel cancel NIS 200 banknotes in order to harm Hamas finances.
“Israel’s duty, when fighting Hamas, is to take all possible means to collapse the economic system, and this system is based on this money,” says the official.
“Hamas is at a point of economic decline following the lack of aid trucks in the last two months, from which it used to make a profit,” adds the official. “This is a very serious opportunity to collapse Hamas that has not been seriously examined to date.”
The Bank of Israel summarily rejected the idea last week. link. Anonymous officials always means it comes from Netanyahu and it is no surprise that Netanyahu rejects a deal that calls for the end of the war. It doesn't matter to him that all the hostages will be released or that Hamas will stop governing in Gaza or that they are committing to a 5 year 'hudna' where they commit to not build tunnels, arms, weapons, etc. Of course, Hamas is not to be believed that they would stop their armaments and work hard to rebuild their tunnel infrastructure, training and terror activities, which means that it would be relatively easy for Israel to return to fighting due to Hamas' breaches of the agreement. There are direct parallels to what was done in Lebanon. We reached an internationally recognized with Hizbollah/Lebanon to pull all of our troops out of Lebanon and have the areas taken over by the Lebanese army. There were obvious breaches by Hizbollah which enabled us to continue to attach Hizbollah targets and not pull back from all areas. We can reach an agreement with Hamas and get all of our hostages home, pull back our troops and announce the end of the war. When Hamas breaches, our troops go back in whether as part of the war or in a short term operation. Netanyahu, for his own self interests is not interested in any agreement that calls for the end of the war, so none of the above has any meaning for Netanyahu.
- Alon Ohel’s family details his injuries, calls for wounded hostages to get medical care outside Gaza
The family of hostage Alon Ohel details his injuries and proposes a plan that would see wounded captives transferred by Hamas to neutral countries for medical care.
Ohel’s parents say their son is suffering life-threatening injuries and is on the brink of becoming blind.
“He lost his sight in one eye and we know that the other can be saved. He suffers from a serious head injury and shrapnel in his body,” the family says. “We heard these descriptions from someone who was with him in Hamas captivity.”
“Alon was kidnapped from the ‘bunker of death,’ after dozens of grenades were thrown into the shelter, and he was injured by those grenades,” the family says. “He received disgraceful treatment from Hamas. A 19-year-old boy stitched him up with a needle and thread.”
“We don’t sleep at night knowing that there are aid organizations sent by many Western countries that are providing treatment to Gazans. What country provides medical treatment to one side, knowing that there are hostages with life-threatening injuries who are not receiving medical treatment?” says father Kobi Ohel.
The family proposes a plan to allow wounded hostages to receive medical care.
Under the proposal, wounded hostages would be taken for medical treatment at an American hospital in a Gulf country, or at a European hospital.
Medical and humanitarian aid would be resumed to the Gaza Strip for the duration of the medical treatment.
Under the plan, after a period of up to 72 days, the wounded will return to Israel when a comprehensive deal is signed that sees the release of all the hostages.
In February, Idit Ohel said that released hostages Eli Sharabi and Or Levy were held with her son for the duration of their captivity. Their return from Gaza in February was the first time that Ohel’s family received confirmation that he is still alive since he was abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023.
🎗️Day 571 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
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
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- Ex-hostage Keith Siegel recounts ‘medieval torture’ in Gaza, asks Trump to ‘apply pressure’
Speaking at a English press conference of freed hostages, released captive Keith Siegel recounts the horrors he experienced in captivity and appeals to US President Donald Trump not to stop until every captive is returned home.
Siegel, a native of the US, says he is “eternally thankful to President Trump for prioritizing the hostage crisis since day one of his presidency, and bringing me and so many others home.”
Siegel was kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023, with his wife, Aviva, who was freed in November 2023. He was not released until February 2025.
Siegel says he thinks “constantly” of those still being held hostage, including twins Gali and Ziv Berman, who “have been part of our lives since they were little boys,” IDF soldier Matan Angrest, whom he met in captivity, and Omri Miran, “a man of immense strength and an unbreakable spirit.”
They “have been held in captivity for 18 agonizing months, over 570 days ripped away from their families, their dreams and their lives. Every second of every day, I’m reminded that we cannot truly be free while our people remain in captivity.”
Siegel says that he carries “the heavy burden of knowing what those still in captivity endure every single day. I survived horrors I could never have imagined, starvation, dehydration, relentless humiliation. I witnessed sexual assault, trapped 130 feet underground in suffocating tunnels. I saw acts of medieval torture that still haunt me.”
The released hostage says that Trump is responsible for his freedom, and he appeals to the US president “to continue his commitment. Apply pressure. Restart negotiations immediately and secure a deal now, before it’s too late.”
Freed hostage Doron Steinbrecher, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Kfar Aza and released in January, says that it “was clear that the release of myself and my fellow hostages happened thanks to the election of President Trump, thanks to his immense efforts and the efforts of his team.”
Steinbrecher recounts her time in captivity, “spent underground, trapped in the dark, suffocating tunnels with no daylight, no sense of time, no insurance I would survive another day.”
She says she is grateful for her freedom, “but my heart is heavy, because 59 hostages remain in captivity, 59 families trapped in [an] endless cycle of hope and despair.” She appeals to Trump: “Please don’t stop. Continue to fight for them, just as you fought for me. Continue to be their voice, just as you gave me mine.”
- Families warn remains of deceased Gaza hostages at risk of being lost forever
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum warns that the bodies of deceased captives held in Gaza are “at risk of complete disappearance,” publishing a special medical report.
The report says that the remains of the deceased hostages “could become unrecoverable, making it impossible to locate them or return them for burial.”
The report cites two key reasons for the warning. First is the fact that the whereabouts of the hostages’ remains are known “only to a few individuals who may be killed or disappear during the fighting, without leaving any documented record.”
Secondly, the report says, the conditions in the Strip, such as extreme heat, flooding and collapsed buildings, could “compromise the integrity of the remains and complicate their identification.”
According to Israel, terrorists in the Gaza Strip are holding the remains of 35 hostages, all but one kidnapped during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack.
- Responding to Dermer, Lapid says ‘the hostages will die’ if war continues for another year
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid responds to Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer’s comment that the war will be over in a year, saying that waiting that long will lead to the deaths of all the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
“Let’s just remember what the price is: The hostages will die. If we wait another year, we will receive 59 bodies,” Lapid tells Radio 103FM.
Dermer said yesterday that a year from now, “the seven-front war that began on October 7 will be over. Israel will have won.”
Lapid says there are two conditions required for the war to end — drafting of all those eligible to serve in the IDF, and a decision on who will replace Hamas as ruler of Gaza.
“Everyone must be mobilized. There are not enough soldiers. The government encourages evasion and refusal [of the Haredi community to serve in the army],” he tells the radio outlet, according to the Walla news site.
“You did not define a goal for the war. Who will replace Hamas?” he says, apparently addressing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the government. link Dermer's statement about the war ending in 12 months is straight from the mouth of Netanyahu as Dermer is his lapdog, only doing what his boss wants. 12 months would serve Netanyahu's goal of biding his time to rehabilitate his image for the next elections in 2026 and trying to erase his almost total responsibility for the massacre of October 7 and his mismanagement of the war and purposeful failure to bring the hostages home. Netanyahu believes that the more time he has before elections, the greater his chances of retaining the premiership due to distorting the facts, pushing his narrative that all responsibility falls on the security heads and their organizations, and helps him push off and prevent an Official Committee of Inquiry which would find him guilty in so many ways for October 7, the lead up to it and the aftermath, thus preserving his false legacy. Neither Dermer nor Netanyahu care at all about the hostages or their families. Their only priority is Netanyahu's personal political position, his future and his legacy. SHAME!!!
- IDF says 3 key terrorists killed in recent strikes, including leader of Oct. 7 Kissufim attack
Recent Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed three prominent terror operatives, including a Hamas terrorist who led the attack on Kissufim on October 7, 2023, the IDF announces.
According to the military, a strike in Gaza City on Thursday killed Ali Naddal Husni Sarfiti, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Sarfiti had been jailed in Israel between 2002 and 2015 for involvement in terror activity, including providing military training and planning a suicide bombing on behalf of the PFLP, the IDF says.
“After his release, he operated in recent years to carry out terror attacks in Israeli territory,” the military says, adding that he was in contact with terror operatives in the West Bank and transferred millions of shekels to them for the attacks.
Additionally, the IDF says recent strikes in Gaza killed Sa’id Abu Hasnan, a member of Hamas’s Nukhba force in the terror group’s Deir al-Balah Battalion, “who infiltrated [Israel] and commanded the infiltration at Kissufim” on October 7; and Mustafa al-Mutawwak, chief of operations in Hamas’s Jabalia Battalion, who led attacks on Israeli troops in Gaza.
- Four killed in overnight Gaza strikes, Hamas-controlled authorities say
Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight killed four Palestinians, according to local health officials from Hamas-controlled authorities.
Gaza’s Hamas-controlled civil defense agency says a number of people were additionally injured in an Israeli airstrike on tents near the Al-Iqleem area.
The figures cannot be independently verified and do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
There is no comment from the Israeli military, which has said in the past that it is targeting terror operatives and infrastructure in the Strip.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques. Palestinian civilians say nowhere in Gaza is safe.
- IDF foils attempt to smuggle guns across border from Egypt via drone
The IDF says it foiled an attempt last night to smuggle 10 assault rifles into Israel from Egypt using a drone.
The drone had been identified crossing the border from Egypt into Israel, before it was downed by troops of the Border Defense Corps’ Caracal Battalion.
The drone and guns were handed over to police for further investigation.
In recent months, there have been frequent attempts to bring weapons and drugs over the Egypt border using drones. There have also been attempts to smuggle similar contraband from Israel into Gaza using drones.
- How the October 7 trials will impact Israel’s story
Opinion: The Nukhba terrorist trials will not just seek justice for the Nir Oz massacre but shape Israeli and global memory of October 7, echoing the historic impact of the Eichmann trial on truth, education and national identity
Gaza and the South
The formation of indictments against 22 Nukhba terrorists who took part in the Nir Oz massacre isn't just a legal step, nor is the future filing of indictments against hundreds of terrorists, as part of the unified "7.10 case." These lawsuits are much more than that. They are dramatic events with historical significance. One that exceeds the legal field and shapes the collective memory, Israeli and global, regarding the "Black Sabbath."
They will have educational, social and cultural aspects. This is the nature of canonical trials. The words of the prosecutors are intended primarily for the public. The testimonies are directed outward. The judges' decisions shape a generation. They affect the genetic code of a nation.
In his book, "The Eichmann Trial in Jerusalem," Gideon Hausner, the attorney general, and chief prosecutor in the case, notes that he also saw his role as one that was supposed to "promote, through the trial, awareness of the Holocaust" and place it "in the series of historical events that the world must remember." And how right he was.
In 1961, the Holocaust was less known and more denied. The Eichmann trial, however, changed the world order. It led to a political and media awakening in the United States. In Germany, it accelerated a deep social reckoning. Millions around the globe were exposed to the "Final Solution." Here, too, the Holocaust became a topic of greater discussion in the education system, on the street and in almost every home.
The Nukhba trials could have a similar impact, as they will shape a significant part of the perception of October 7. In Israel, they will contribute, even if only slightly, to closure for some of the victims' families and the injured.
Without a state commission of inquiry, they will help to consolidate the factual picture. Internationally, they will make the Israeli narrative accessible and provide an authoritative explanation regarding the sequence of events that will remain with us for years. And the timing of things has a powerful significance as well.
In his book, "The Eichmann Trial in Jerusalem," Gideon Hausner, the attorney general, and chief prosecutor in the case, notes that he also saw his role as one that was supposed to "promote, through the trial, awareness of the Holocaust" and place it "in the series of historical events that the world must remember."
Then, the Eichmann trial was held 16 years after the war. Yad Vashem, as a commemorative institution, was already operating. Now, the disaster is still happening. It is still with us. It may seem like a trial, but it is a perception accelerator. In a certain sense, this is the Eichmann trial on steroids.
And for such an event, it is better to be prepared. Alongside the prosecution team, a public perception team must operate and consider those historical aspects. It must identify opportunities in the trial to shape the Israeli and Jewish story not only in the face of current public diplomacy challenges but for generations to come.
The identity of the witnesses, the types of evidence, and the expressions that the prosecutors will use – all have a perceptual importance in a future perspective. For example, the term "The Desk Murderer," which Hausner used, not only convicted the villain. It humanized the evil and illustrated that the Holocaust was committed by ordinary people who chose to do it.
The decisions about whether to put the terrorists in glass booths, the trial's location or its translated international broadcast are also nontechnical ones. They are of unparalleled essence and can shape the perception of October 7 in various venues.
In the current era, the responsibility for such issues must not be left solely to those entrusted with the legal task. Their work is important enough, and their hands are full. Perceptually, the Nukhba trials are a turning point in time. They are the public's trial before they are a criminal trial.
And in a week like this, between Holocaust, Memorial and Independence Days – they are a connection between the most Israeli days there are and the most Jewish action there is - the pursuit of justice. That justice must not only be pursued but also established.
Gadi Ezra is former director of Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Unit and author of "11 Days in Gaza". link
- IDF uses new Bar rockets for the first time during fighting in Gaza
The IDF says it has made its first operational use of a new artillery weapon in the Gaza Strip.
The Bar rockets, developed by Elbit, were used by the 282nd Artillery Regiment to hit targets in southern Gaza amid the ongoing offensive against Hamas.
According to the military, the Bar rockets feature a “navigation mechanism tailored to challenging combat environments,” and they are able to strike targets within “a very short time.”
Bar rockets are set to replace the IDF’s aging Romach rockets, which are launched from M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems.
- The Region and the World
- Top Biden aide: Israel missed opportunity for Saudi deal; hopefully it won’t do so again
In interviews with Israeli investigative TV program, nine senior officials from previous US administration vent their frustrations in dealing with Netanyahu during Gaza warPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government missed an opportunity to reach a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia last year, a top aide to former US president Joe Biden said in an interview that aired Sunday.
The deal would have required a ceasefire and hostage release deal and a willingness on the part of Israel to establish a political horizon for an eventual Palestinian state — something Netanyahu has long rejected and, since Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, has stated would amount to a prize for terrorism.
For their part, Biden officials repeatedly argued that progress toward Palestinian self-determination need not be considered an Israeli concession, as the US and its Arab allies were looking to advance the goal in a way that would isolate Hamas in favor of a reformed Palestinian Authority.
“I don’t understand the decision not to grab that opportunity as the most important strategic move Israel can make,” Amos Hochstein told Channel 13’s “Hamakor” investigative program. “I think it was missed before. I hope Israel doesn’t miss that opportunity moving forward — even if it means doing things that politically are uncomfortable.”
Hochstein was one of nine senior Biden administration officials interviewed for the Sunday program who took viewers through their frustrations in dealing with Netanyahu’s government throughout the Gaza war.
The former US officials shared their belief that Netanyahu’s refusal to plan for the postwar management of Gaza was a stalling tactic to avoid decisions that risked toppling his government.
They detailed brief deliberations in Washington about having Biden deliver a speech aimed at potentially spurring an election in Israel, given Netanyahu’s intransigence.
And they revealed that a video posted by Netanyahu accusing the US administration of withholding various weapons transfers for months scuttled a nearly final agreement to release the lone shipment of 2,000-lb bombs that had actually been frozen.
“Hamakor” also interviewed a more junior administration official who resigned in protest of what she said was Biden’s decision to give Israel a pass despite a US law that bars the transfer of weapons to countries that block the transfer of humanitarian aid.
Despite the disagreements, the top Biden officials professed devotion to Israel’s security, explaining that this dedication was what made attacks by Netanyahu and his supporters, who accused them of abandoning Israel, particularly stinging.
“Having the prime minister of Israel question the support of the United States after all that we did — do I think that was a right and proper thing for a friend to do? I do not,” said former national security adviser Jake Sullivan. “[However], I will always stand firm behind the idea that Israel has a right to defend itself and that the United States has a responsibility to help Israel, and I’ll do that no matter who the prime minister is, no matter what they say about me or the US or the president that I work for.”
Burying the hatchet
Relations between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government were not at a particularly high point before Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught on Israel, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and seized 251 as hostages.
Weeks before the onslaught, Biden had finally agreed to meet Netanyahu after holding out for nine months due to disapproval of the premier’s controversial plan to radically overhaul the Israeli judiciary.
Nonetheless, the US president gave an impassioned speech in support of Israel and warned Iran and its proxies not to join the fight against the Jewish state. Biden also ordered US aircraft carriers into the Eastern Mediterranean in a further demonstration of deterrence.
“I was asked to send a message to Hezbollah: ‘Whatever just happened, do not enter this conflict. If you do, the rules of the game change, and if you mess with this, you’ll be messing with us — the United States,'” Hochstein recalled.
Biden decided to make a solidarity visit to Israel even before his aides came up with the idea, Sullivan told “Hamakor.”
Before the president got off the plane in Tel Aviv, though, the US secured an Israeli commitment to start allowing in humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt, after top officials in Jerusalem initially pledged not to allow in one drop.
“The weight of October 7 had a physical manifestation on all of the leaders of Israel,” Sullivan recalled from that visit. “They looked different.”
Former National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said one of the Israeli ministers — whom Channel 13 revealed was Ron Dermer — told Biden during a meeting of the war cabinet that his wife had whispered into his ear where she planned to hide their daughter if Hamas terrorists entered their home.
‘Killing and destroying for the sake of killing and destroying’
Already in those early days, the US tried to guide a shocked Israel in its response to Hamas.
Biden “did raise his concerns that a ground operation in Gaza that was disconnected from any kind of strategic endpoint [and] could end up creating huge problems for Israel,” Sullivan said.
Ilan Goldenberg, a senior national security aide for the administration, said the US envisioned a military campaign that was similar to the one it led against ISIS, where territory was captured and then handed over to the Kurds. The US held talks with Arab allies who expressed willingness to temporarily manage security in Gaza, but they all conditioned this assistance on being able to pass the baton to the PA — a nonstarter for Netanyahu and his far-right coalition partners.
While then-war cabinet ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot backed the US plan, they were overruled by the premier, Goldenberg said.
The former senior Biden official recalled how Dermer talked about a 50-year project that started with “de-radicalizing” Gazans.
“I read it as he wasn’t really interested in doing anything, [and that] it was all kind of stalling to not have that real discussion,” Goldenberg said.
The following months saw the IDF repeatedly return to places in Gaza that it had previously cleared of Hamas operatives, who managed to return because Israel wasn’t advancing a viable alternative to fill the vacuum.
Far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have called for Israel to permanently reoccupy the Strip and rebuild settlements there. While Netanyahu has publicly ruled out the idea, he has also held off on advancing alternative initiatives that would shut off such possibilities. Ben Gvir and Smotrich have threatened to collapse the government if Israel ends the war or allows the PA to play a role in Gaza.
Former Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Herzog acknowledged that “political considerations” were clouding the decision-making process. He told “Hamakor” that Israeli officials held in-depth discussions regarding the so-called day-after in Gaza. But they repeatedly ended with no decisions being made.
“If they’re never going to do this, it doesn’t matter what the outcome is, Hamas is still going to control Gaza,” Goldenberg lamented. “You’re just killing and destroying for the sake of killing and destroying. But you’re not building an alternative.”
Amid the intransigence, Goldenberg said there were discussions held in Washington about having Biden give a speech that would force a reckoning in Israel about how to move forward.
The idea of the speech was for Biden to present Israelis with two paths — one that saw the government aim for a hostage deal that ends the war followed by a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, and one that continued the current trajectory of endless war and increasing international isolation — and ask the public to decide which they prefer.
The Times of Israel first revealed this ultimately shelved plan last year.
The goal was to “scramble Israeli politics and see if you can trigger elections,” Goldenberg said.
“There was a real debate about that, but at the end of the day [Biden] was uncomfortable with the idea of going out that directly against Netanyahu,” he said.
Pulling a fast one
Instead, a different primetime speech was given by Biden on May 31, 2024.
Four days earlier, Netanyahu had agreed to a phased framework for a hostage deal that Washington believed was enough to get Hamas on board.
Fearing that the Israeli premier might walk away from the initiative, Biden used the address to disclose the ceasefire plan that Jerusalem had accepted and call on Hamas to do the same.
“President Biden wanted to indicate that this was available and, critically, that Israel was open to doing it. This was not about trying to jam anybody. It was about creating a sense that there was a deal to be done and that deal had a certain shape to it,” Sullivan said.
Herzog said Israel was only notified about the speech moments before it was given, due to Washington’s fears that Jerusalem might try and sabotage the initiative.
“I think they were a little uncomfortable with it because we didn’t give them a heads up,” Goldenberg said.
A freeze or not a freeze?
By this point, the goodwill that Biden had built up with the Israeli government and people with his support following the Hamas attack had begun to dissipate.
The death toll in Gaza had crossed 30,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and Biden announced in early May that he was withholding a US shipment of 2,000-lb bombs for Israel due to concerns that they might be used in densely populated areas.
In mid-June, though, Israel’s Defense Ministry and the Pentagon were on the verge of an agreement that would have allowed the shipment to move forward, with Israel providing assurances that the high-payload bombs wouldn’t be used in Gaza, Dan Shapiro, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East at the time, told “Hamakor.”
Just before the deal was finalized, Netanyahu released a video accusing the US of not just withholding the single shipment of 2,000-lb bombs but of a much broader weapons freeze — something that the Biden administration adamantly denied.
The brewing agreement to release the 2,000-lb bombs subsequently fell apart.
Biden officials fumed at Netanyahu, who they felt was being ungrateful for the support that the US had been providing.
Weeks earlier, the White House had pushed a $19 billion supplemental security assistance package for Israel through Congress.
“Yes, we had a disagreement over one shipment, [but] to go out and attack us that way was particularly infuriating,” Goldenberg said.
“We missed an opportunity to solve a problem — one that we very much wanted to solve,” Shapiro said.
Hamakor reported that then-defense minister Yoav Gallant remains convinced that Netanyahu released the video in order to prevent him from getting credit for resolving the issue.
Aid ebbing and flowing
A related issue over which the US and Israel regularly sparred was the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza, which periodically dipped throughout the war.
Former US ambassador to Israel Jack Lew recalled how one of his first conversations with Gallant upon entering the post was about urging him to act against far-right Israelis blocking and looting aid trucks en route to Gaza. Ben Gvir was facing allegations that he was instructing police not to act against the perpetrators.
“‘Tomorrow we are going to be the only country in the world defending Israel. You need to give us something to work with,'” Lew described having told Gallant, who assured him that he would take care of the issue.
“If you had told me that we would have been as deeply involved in the logistics as we were, I would have never believed it,” Lew said, adding that even Biden had familiarity with various specific details regarding the delivery of aid that is completely uncharacteristic for a president to have.
Facing pressure from progressives in his party, Biden signed a memo early last year requiring the State Department to draft a report certifying whether recipients of US weapons were using them according to international law and not blocking humanitarian aid from reaching civilians.
Stacy Gilberg, who served as a senior adviser in the State Department, was among those involved in compiling that report. Shortly before it was released on May 10, she and her colleagues were boxed out of the process and the final conclusions of the report were written by higher-level officials, Gilbert told “Hamakor.”
The report concluded that while Israel did not fully cooperate with efforts to ensure aid flowed into Gaza, Jerusalem’s actions did not amount to a breach of US law that would require a halt on US weapons.
“I had to read the report twice because I couldn’t believe what it said. It was just shocking in its mendacity. Everyone knows that is not true,” she said, explaining her decision to resign in protest shortly thereafter.
No room to navigate on Saudi normalization
Even as the war dragged on, the Biden administration continued discussions with Saudi Arabia about a normalization agreement with Israel.
Normalization was to be coupled with a series of bilateral US-Saudi defense and economic agreements that the sides had all but finalized when Sullivan traveled to Jeddah in July.
But the Palestinian component of the normalization deal proved to be too much for Israel to accept.
“We always understood that the Israeli government depended on far-right ministers who would try to block that [Israeli] commitment [to allow a pathway to a Palestinian state], and so that might require an election or a coalition shuffle or the reliance on opposition parties who might be more open to that,” Shapiro said.
“The fact that there wasn’t a way in the Israeli political system for anyone to navigate a space to allow for that is kind of shocking,” Lew added.
For his part, Herzog maintained that there was an 11th-hour window to secure a normalization deal between the Democrats’ November 2024 election loss and Donald Trump’s January 2025 reentry into the Oval Office.
“It was my understanding that Trump preferred for the deal to wait until he got into office so that he’d be the one to do it, rather than splitting [the credit] with Biden,” the former Israeli envoy maintained.
Wearing their dog tags
Another condition for a normalization agreement was a hostage release and ceasefire deal, which the Biden administration worked to finalize up to the final hours of its term.
“Nothing was more important to the president than those [hostages’] families and making sure that they felt informed,” Kirby said.
Biden’s hostage envoy Roger Carstens was tasked with liaising with the American hostages’ families and was in constant contact with them throughout the war. He wears the dog tags of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander around his neck.
“I’m looking forward to when Edan comes home — I’m looking forward to giving his dog tags back,” said a choked-up Carstens in the program.
The former hostage envoy recalled how families would ask him whether it was okay for them to criticize the US government in the media. He told “Hamakor” that he encouraged them to speak out and to even blame him personally.
It was a stark contrast from Netanyahu, who has criticized Israelis protesting for a hostage deal, claiming they have led Hamas to raise its demands in negotiations.
Still, this was one issue on which the Biden administration largely avoided criticizing Israel, fearing the perception of daylight between the two countries would lead Hamas to harden its stances.
Indeed, the Biden administration repeatedly singled out Hamas as the main obstacle in the hostage talks and never singled out Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and US President Joe Biden (L) meet with families of American hostages at the White House, July 25, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
But now out of office, and with the May 2024 framework partially implemented, the Biden officials acknowledged that there were times when Netanyahu played the role of spoiler in negotiations.
They pointed to the premier’s decision in August 2024 to launch a public campaign regarding the importance of Israel remaining in the Philadelphi Corridor border stretch between Egypt and Gaza, which Washington felt was disingenuous and designed to tank the negotiations at a critical point.
“It became clear pretty quickly that minister Gallant did not really see that as a military necessity, and he would have been willing to withdraw the IDF from the Philadelphi Corridor as part of a hostage deal that would release all hostages, so we took seriously what our main counterpart in the Israeli system said,” Shapiro said.
“We were very close to having an agreement with Egypt on something that’s almost identical to what was in the final phase two agreement and that was achievable at that moment. I think there were domestic political reasons [for Netanyahu] to be seen as taking a very hard line on the Philadelphi Corridor,” Lew said.
“Hamas, for months, was not prepared to actually seriously talk about the hostages. Does that mean there weren’t moments where the prime minister was adding additional conditions or indicating some reluctance to move forward? I’m not saying that,” Sullivan noted.
Goldenberg was more definitive, even though he acknowledged being in the minority. “I would get a lot of whispers from old Israeli friends [who said] all the security people are coming out and saying [Netanyahu’s] undercutting it every step of the way. I start to believe [it] when there’s so much coming out [saying] that he’s clearly a problem. Whereas some of my colleagues didn’t quite see it.”
Hochstein, who is close friends with the parents of slain American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, reflected on being unable to secure a deal before Hersh was executed in August of last year along with five other hostages.
The former Biden envoy said negotiators had discussed adding Hersh’s name to the list of hostages to be released during the first phase of the deal on the same day he was killed.
“I know that a lot of people say, ‘In retrospect, maybe it’s good that there was no deal reached in the summer because look at all the [Israeli military] gains that were made in August and September and October. But there’s no doubt that people forget that there was a big advantage of reaching a deal earlier, and that is that those hostages would be alive, and some of the hostages who did come home would be in better condition,” Hochstein maintained.
‘God did Israel a favor’
While Biden and Netanyahu had their share of disagreements, the two spent much of this last chapter of their public relationship trying to present it as a decades-old friendship.
“‘Bibi, I don’t agree with a damn thing you say, but I love you,” Biden would often joke at public events.
Privately, though, Biden described Netanyahu differently.
“Because it’s Netanyahu. He’s a survivor, a manipulator, a magician when it comes to relationships. Biden saw all of that,” said former US ambassador to Israel Tom Nides. “President Biden likes to use colorful language and occasionally [Netanyahu] was able to extract that language from the president.”
Biden identified as a Zionist, so when his commitment to Israel was questioned, “that really pisses you off. That aggravates Biden in a way where you don’t want to be around him when that happens,” Nides added.
“Hamakor” reported that during one of their conversations during the war, Biden hung up on Netanyahu in the middle of a conversation. During another, he told the prime minister that he was “full of shit.” Netanyahu was offended, but didn’t react.
“Each side was convinced that the other was trying to undermine him,” Herzog said.
Despite his animosity toward Netanyahu, Biden stood by Israel through the end of his term.
“This was the most significant political peril of Joe Biden’s political career. The easiest thing for Joe Biden… to do if he was worried about the votes in Michigan, is to basically get a little soft. He refused to do it,” Nides said.
“There was an enormous pressure on [Biden] inside the White House to change his position. So, when I hear comments about [how] he wasn’t good enough, or he didn’t have Israel’s back, am I disgusted by it? 100%. Is it true? 100% no.”
“Can you imagine the [backlash] if it was Amos meeting with Hamas and negotiating with Hamas. Do you understand the level of anger that would come out of this?” said the former US ambassador, referring to the unprecedented direct talks that Trump’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler held with Hamas officials last month. Israel fumed over the negotiations but has avoided criticizing them publicly.
Herzog, too, made a point of summarizing Biden’s perilous term positively.
“God did the State of Israel a favor that Biden was the president during this period, because it could have been much worse. We fought [in Gaza] for over a year and the administration never came to us and said, ‘ceasefire now.’ It never did. And that’s not to be taken for granted,” the former Israeli ambassador said.
“Hamakor” anchor Raviv Drucker mused on whether that was the Biden administration’s flaw — that it was too loyal and pro-Israel to ever fully pressure Netanyahu. The Israeli premier, he posited, understood this and chose to drag his feet on making key decisions throughout the war, to buy time until Trump returned to office. link. The people interviewed for this article were being too diplomatic in their assessments of Netanyahu and the facts. Israel couldn't have had a more supportive president than Biden throughout the time that Biden was president since the war began. He made sure to arm Israel in every way possible and the one shipment of the 2000 pound bombs that Biden held up due to fears it would be used in the killing of many more hundreds or thousands of Gazan civilians was a real fear based on the numbers of Gazan civilians that we have killed. Biden was also very diplomatic in his dealings with Netanyahu. He could have and should have pressured Netanyahu much more to get the hostages home. It was within his power but he was worried about the political ramifications of doing so and he saw that stink that Netanyahu deliberately made about the 2000 pound bombs. Netanyahu did many things to sabotage Biden's and then Harris' election because he wanted Trump to return. He always had it easier with Republican presidents than Democratic ones because the Republicans would turn a blind eye to everything he would do, even when he went against the US Administration, such as with settlement expansions and developments and treatment of Palestinians. The Democrats would hold him responsible as should be the case. Regarding the hostage talks, everyone knew then and knows now that Netanyahu has done more to sabotage deals than anyone else because they went against his personal political interests. In addition, the Biden administration went out of its way to be in constant communications with the hostage families throughout including many meetings with Biden himself and Secretary of State Blinken which is in direct contrast to what Netanyahu and his government have done, which has been to avoid meeting with the families except the occasional meeting with the families of the Tikva Forum which has supported the continuation of the war and more military pressure.
- Egypt's el-Sisi says decades-old peace with Israel should serve as regional modelEgyptian president’s remarks highlight enduring state-to-state cooperation even as public sentiment in Egypt remains wary of complete normalization with Israel
In a recent speech that drew wide attention across the Middle East, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said the decades-old peace between Egypt and Israel could serve as a model for the entire region. His remarks come as the Gaza war enters its second year, regional alliances shift, and Donald Trump’s return to the White House signals possible changes in American Middle East policy.Samir Ragheb, chairman of the Arab Foundation for Development and Strategic Studies, offered a candid assessment. “The peace treaty has worked well between governments. Relations between the Egyptian state and Israeli state function. But between the people of both countries? That hasn’t worked. So-called normalization just isn’t normal. The peace treaty prevents war but doesn’t build relationships between ordinary citizens in either country,” he said.Ragheb said public sentiment remains deeply shaped by Israeli actions in Palestinian territories. “Israel hasn’t given us the chance to forget its violence against innocent people. We aren’t against a nation’s right to protect its citizens, its land. But we oppose the killing of innocent civilians,” he added.Political analyst Walid Kazziha, a former professor at the American University in Cairo, echoed this view, adding that Israeli policies have complicated Egypt’s position.“Netanyahu is putting Arab governments in an embarrassing position. He’s forcing them onto the defensive. The occupation of that part of Gaza bordering Egypt has definitely put Sisi’s regime on the defensive against criticism from his own people and from Arabs generally,” he said.Military coordination amid public tensionDespite the cool diplomatic ties and negative public opinion, Egypt and Israel maintain robust military coordination, which remains a stabilizing factor in a volatile relationship.“Yes, there’s very good coordination,” Ragheb said about intelligence cooperation. “Without solid coordination at multiple levels—from communications officers to the high committee for military relations between Egypt and Israel—without this, we could have war triggered by any mistake,” he explained.Along the shared border from the Mediterranean to Taba, coordination is constant, Ragheb noted. “And there’s reasonable tolerance for unintentional mistakes from both sides.”Kazziha pushed back against Israeli suggestions that Egypt’s military is becoming a threat. “From my perspective, Egypt is gradually increasing its military positions and capabilities—which is entirely natural. But the Israelis exaggerate this to claim, ‘Look, Egypt is building powerful military forces to attack Israel.’ Egypt has no such intentions,” he said.“I think the Israelis are overstating Egyptian military developments to convince the Americans they need more support in terms of weapons,” he added.Egyptian armored forcesEconomic relations: The quiet foundation“From the very beginning, trade between Egypt and Israel has continued regardless of political circumstances,” Ragheb said. “Through multiple conflicts in 2008, 2014, 2018, 2022, 2024—trade continues despite tensions or deteriorating relations between our countries.”Key sectors, including agriculture and gas, have remained closely linked. Israeli products often enter Egypt discreetly, Ragheb added, “sold as if from another country—labeled as made in China or the United Arab Emirates. The average consumer doesn’t realize they’re from Israel,” he said.The Trump factor and a changing Middle EastSisi’s remarks come as the region adjusts to Trump’s reelection, which Arab leaders believe could bring both pressure and opportunity in their relations with Israel.“Yes, there’s definitely a Trump effect,” Ragheb said. “Unlike Democrats who have domestic political considerations, Trump is openly pro-Israel, not secretly. He’ll make decisions that strengthen Israel’s position, even at neighbors’ expense.”Kazziha offered a more nuanced view. “There’s a feeling in the region that Trump probably isn’t pleased with the situation in Gaza and the Middle East generally, given Netanyahu’s approach of endless conflict and hostility toward Arab parties. But I think Netanyahu has overplayed his hand,” he said.Arab leaders seem to be adjusting accordingly. “Arab nations are lining up, seemingly preparing the ground for Trump by showing—whether Syrians, Egyptians or Jordanians—that they’re quite willing to accommodate Israel’s legitimate interests in the region,” Kazziha said.The path forward: Two-state solutionBoth experts agree that a sustainable peace will require recognizing Palestinian statehood.“Ordinary, rational people don’t expect a Palestinian state from the sea to the river. They accept the principle of two states,” Ragheb said. “If Israel recognizes Palestinians’ right to statehood and independence, then everything might change—even relations between our people.”He emphasized that any solution would have to be based on the 1967 borders: “Two states living peacefully, coexisting.”Public opinion and the absence of protests“In Egypt, we have laws prohibiting demonstrations without permission,” Ragheb said. “Any unauthorized demonstration subjects participants to legal consequences—potentially custody or charges of political crimes.”Kazziha traced this broader trend back to the region’s political history: “Arab public opinion has been subdued by pressure from Arab regimes themselves. Over time, Arab citizens generally have come to feel powerless and defenseless. They believe their actions won’t make much difference.”He linked today’s political mood to the failures of the Arab Spring. “The Arab Spring gave hope to a new generation that things could change. But ultimately it failed because Arab regimes, with Western powers’ support, contained that vibrant movement and brought it to a standstill,” he said.A new Middle East taking shapeSisi’s call for Egyptian-Israeli peace to serve as a model comes during what appears to be a broader regional realignment, with developments including Syria’s shifting stance toward Israel, changes in Palestinian Authority leadership, Jordan’s crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, and Hezbollah’s diminished presence in southern Lebanon.“Yes, we’re entering a new era in the Middle East,” Ragheb said, recalling that when Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed the Camp David Accords in 1978, the Arab world rejected his peace initiative. “Now, Israel is widely recognized. We have at least nine Arab countries with peace treaties with Israel through the Abraham Accords, and more could happen.”Kazziha was less optimistic, saying that “the Middle East is moving toward eliminating the last remnants of any force that might radically change the region’s political or economic landscape. Power remains concentrated in the hands of Arab regimes, Israel, and Western powers with regional influence, especially the United States.”Sisi’s vision of Egyptian-Israeli peace as a regional model will be tested in this changing landscape. Military and intelligence ties between Egypt and Israel remain strong, and economic relations continue despite political tensions. Yet the absence of real people-to-people normalization, and the unresolved Palestinian issue, still cast long shadows over the relationship.As Ragheb put it: “Personally, I believe in this principle. I don’t hate Israeli people. I hate the decisions of the Israeli government and cabinet—not ordinary citizens. So if the Israeli government could shift to something new, probably all the Arab world may see the country differently in the future.”The distinction between governments and peoples remains at the heart of the Egyptian-Israeli dynamic—and will shape whether el-Sisi’s vision can succeed. link - UK’s Starmer to host Palestinian Authority PM in London with pledge to advance statehood
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy are slated to host Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in London today, and will sign a memorandum of understanding “enshrining their commitment to advancing Palestinian statehood as part of a two-state solution,” says the Foreign Office.
The MOU will also “stress that the Palestinian Authority is the only legitimate governing entity in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and underlines the importance of reunifying Gaza and the West Bank under its authority.”
Israel rejects handing Gaza over to the PA. Last night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated in a speech that the PA isn’t any better than Hamas — both want to destroy Israel, but the PA is currently using lawfare rather than military means, he said.
In London today, the two sides will agree on a “coordinated approach” to Gaza’s future, says the statement, based on Arab initiatives. “The UK will make clear that Hamas must immediately release the hostages and relinquish control of Gaza.”
London will announce a £101 million (NIS 490 million) relief package for economic development and for support of PA governance and reform.
According to the Foreign Office, the visit “reflects the UK’s steadfast support for the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people at a critical juncture in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and desire to further strengthen bilateral relations.”
“The UK is clear that there can be no role for Hamas in the future of Gaza and we are committed to working with the Palestinian Authority as the only legitimate governing entity in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” says Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
“We will not give up on the two-state solution, with a Palestinian state and Israel living side-by-side in peace, dignity and security. I reaffirm the UK’s commitment to recognizing a Palestinian state as a contribution to that process, at a time that has the greatest impact.”
- Personal Stories
- "Why don't I leave? Because he’s my Niko": The soldier who survived a severe injury and the partner who refuses to give up
- Only seven months into the blossoming love between Lt. Niko Navon and Yasmin ("Yas")—and then he was severely wounded in the head during an operation in Shejaiya. Yas chose to stay by his side, day after day: "My heart bursts with love. I don’t think about the future, I focus on the here and now." As he sits beside his son at the Levinstein Rehabilitation Center in Ra'anana, his father delivers an important message: "Niko and other head-injured soldiers are invisible. They aren’t photogenic, they don’t speak. But they are alive, and society must accept and appreciate them—not stare, and certainly not recoil."
- "My Niko, wounded in the head during combat, has no voice. So we—his parents and siblings—are his voice, and the voice of all head-injured soldiers who need to be heard, so people understand the severity of these wounds," says Yuval Navon, the grieving father of Lt. Niko, a severe head trauma victim, who has made it his mission to fight stigma and invisibility, bringing this disability into the light.
- Seated beside his son at the Levinstein Rehabilitation Center, the father says: "For a year and a half, the public has been shown heroic fighters, amputees, those who lost limbs. They communicate, they smile, they command deep respect. Meanwhile, Niko and other head-injured soldiers remain invisible. They don’t photograph well, their appearance isn’t aesthetic, they aren’t photogenic. They don’t speak. But they are alive. Society must accept and appreciate them—not gawk, and certainly not shy away."
In plastic chairs, around a small table on the spacious lawn of the Levinstein Center - where all the rehabilitation efforts that will lead him forward are being made - we met Lieutenant Niko, confined to a wheelchair and conscious. Around him, as a matter of routine, sit his parents, brother, sister and his partner from other days. This warm and devoted human bond does not take her caressing hands off the wounded son for a second. Each one at the time approaches him, leans towards him, kisses him.
The Love Story That Defies Tragedy
- Niko (23), born in Kibbutz Givat Haim Ihud, the son of Karina—a physical education teacher and department head at the Ruppin School in Emek Hefer—and Yuval, the kibbutz petting zoo manager, and brother to Eden (28), Sol (26), and Tomi (17), had been fighting in Gaza since the initial ground invasion, serving nine months straight.
- "He was a young platoon commander, still a lieutenant in Battalion 82 of the 7th Armored Brigade," his father recounts. "He was wounded on July 7 during a raid in Shejaiya. What happened was that a D9 armored bulldozer collapsed into a shaft, and Niko, trying to guide it out, stuck his head out of the turret—and was hit by the blast of an anti-tank missile."
- He lost consciousness, and his tank crew immediately pulled him inside. After initial field treatment, he was airlifted to Soroka Medical Center in critical condition.
- "That evening, Yuval and I were home, the older kids in Tel Aviv, when an unknown number called my phone," Karina recalls. "On the other end, an IDF officer—or maybe the city’s military liaison, I don’t remember—asked if I had a son fighting in Gaza. From that second, I heard nothing else. I handed the phone to Yuval, certain this was just the prelude to devastating news."
- The Phone Call That Shattered Their Lives
- Yuval was told Niko was seriously injured and being flown to Soroka. "I directed the taxi to our kibbutz, and the officers who stepped out told us to pack a bag for two or three days," he says. Karina’s anxiety spiked when, she says, their dog suddenly became agitated. She stood frozen, bracing for the worst. "Tomi was playing soccer on the field. I remember automatically packing clothes for him too, and we picked him up on the way to Soroka."
- A nerve-wracking silence filled the taxi—the officer up front forbidden from sharing details, the parents and brother in the back. Yuval tried to steady his voice as he updated the other children.
"I was helping in the evening shift, when the cell phone was not on me. I happened to pass by him, I glanced and saw a call from my father that was not answered," Sol, Niko's sister, recalls the moment that changed the life of everyone in the Navon family. "I returned to him, and he informed me that Niko was injured and that they were on their way to the hospital. I rode my bike to the house of Eden, my older brother, and Tom, his partner, and together, in Eden's car, we drove to Soroka." During the trip, Tom tried to find out details through contacts she has in ACA. "And from what she was told - we understood that my brother was hit in the head," says Eden.
- Meanwhile, Yas, Niko’s girlfriend—whose deep love story will unfold later—was at her base when her phone rang. "Sol told me Niko was wounded in the head and they were on their way to Soroka. Soroka? Just that morning he’d sent me hearts. He was supposed to come home Friday." She immediately notified her commander and hitched a ride to Be’er Sheva.
- Between Hope and Despair
- The siblings arrived first and were met by representatives of the IDF’s Casualty Division, who guided them to the waiting area, informing them Niko was still in surgery. Meanwhile, the parents were still in the taxi, Karina consumed by dread. "The whole ride, I screamed inside, aloud and in my heart: He’s alive. He’s alive—and the drive wouldn’t end."
- A doctor emerged and gathered Sol, Eden, and his girlfriend Tom in a side room, announcing—via speakerphone so the parents could hear—that they’d stopped the brain hemorrhage and stabilized Niko. "They let us see him, his head completely bandaged. I kept thinking—what nightmare is this?" Sol recalled.
- The family, now united with Yas at Soroka, was tossed between hope and terror. "The neurosurgeons were optimistic, painting a rosy picture. They showed us the CT scans, assuring us it was just a matter of time—maybe a year—before Niko recovered," Yuval said. But seeking a second opinion, they sent his scans to another specialist.
- "Then came the axe-blow," Yuval says. "The doctor coldly informed us this was an extremely severe head injury, and from his tone, we understood he saw it as catastrophic. ‘When he regains consciousness and lifts two fingers—let me know,’ he said pessimistically."
- Two and a Half Months Without Consciousness
- Niko spent two and a half months unconscious and ventilated in the ICU before being transferred to Levinstein for rehabilitation. "Ten days after arriving, something terrible happened," Karina recounts. "He spiked a fever of 40°C, sweating violently, blood pressure skyrocketing, his body convulsing in terrifying spasms." An ambulance rushed him to Ichilov, where doctors realized: "He was suffering morphine withdrawal."
- "I nearly screamed—now is not the time to detox him!" Karina says. A senior doctor later remarked, "No one survives this condition." But Karina, driven by a mother’s conviction, knew her son would come back. "Sol and I stepped outside, holding each other up—if Niko survived this long, he’d keep surviving."
After a month, they returned Niko to Levinstein in a diminished state of consciousness that gradually improved, and in January 2025, he was transferred to the brain injury rehabilitation department, where he was received by Dr. Ella Birg—a senior physician in the brain rehabilitation department at the Levinstein Medical Rehabilitation Center, part of the Clalit group.
"When I first saw Niko, he was in a vegetative state—unresponsive—and now he has regained consciousness," says Dr. Birg. "After severe head injuries, the patient will never return to who they were before the injury. Our goal in rehabilitation is to improve basic functions and, as progress appears, to advance further.
"In Niko’s case, the rehabilitation steps are small and slow, and his injury affects all functions: motor and cognitive. It is known that as time passes from the moment of injury, rehabilitation potential declines and fades. But we continue to provide him with full rehabilitative care, which includes medical treatment, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, communication therapy, and emotional therapy—while his family is supported by a social worker."
"Hope Flows Through Me"
The family is united in their belief that this is only a matter of time, but they are not blind to other possibilities.
"Since we arrived here, I’ve been sleeping with Niko, and just as hope flows through me during the day—which I pass on to my children—at night, I allow myself to break down a little. I cry from the fear that he won’t wake up, that he won’t be the Niko he once was," Karina shares. "I also cry over leaving Tomi alone at home and not being able to support my children enough."
Like her mother, Sol remains optimistic but not oblivious to reality.
"Of course, there are moments of breaking down. I’m experiencing loss—I’ve lost the brother Niko was to me, and I won’t have him in the same way again. I miss him terribly, but like the rest of the family, I’ve made a conscious decision to choose life."
Niko and Yas: A True Love
"By the second date, I introduced him to my family because Niko is the kind of guy you bring home to your parents."
- A Family That Laughs Amid the Storm
- Alongside the cloud of worry that darkens their lives, they remain a happy, laughing family.
"He was an athlete and worked his way up to representing Israel in youth beach volleyball in Taiwan—even though he was a chubby kid and we always teased him about it,"* Eden recalls. "Niko is a huge pest, a crybaby, and a serial competitor in 'who’s in more pain.' He’s focused like a horse—standing at 1.82 meters tall—and only looks forward. You can’t budge him. I remember us nearly coming to blows over Barcelona before El Clásico."
Karina adds: "Niko is kind-hearted, eager to please, and beloved. During his service year at a facility for troubled youth, all the kids fell in love with him and came here to visit him. Nothing came easy for him. He had to work hard in school too, but the tougher his path was, the more he set goals for himself—and reached the top."
A Love That Won’t Let Go
- Yas and Niko’s love story sounds like a fairy tale. "We had a mutual friend from his kibbutz. She’d tell me about him, like she did with other guys. I knew he was doing a service year. When he enlisted, we were in the same circle," Yas says. But it was only six months before his injury that they had their first date.
- "By the second date, I introduced him to my family—because Niko is the kind of guy you bring home to your parents,"* Yas smiles. *"Everyone, including my grandma, instantly loved him. Just as I became part of his warm family, he became part of mine."
- Their love was still fresh when tragedy struck. "We’d only been together seven months before he was wounded," Yas says. "But since that day, there’s no other place in the world for me except by his side. People ask why I don’t leave him in this state—it makes me furious. Why? Because he’s my Niko, and my heart explodes with how much I love him. I don’t think about the future. I focus on the here and now."
- Final Note:This is a story of resilience, love, and the invisible wounds of war—a reminder that heroes come in many forms, and some battles continue long after the guns fall silent. link
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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