🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 581, 2023

🎗️Day 581 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

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Two IDF soldiers killed, six wounded in fighting in southern Gaza, military says

Sgt. Yishai Elyakim Urbach (left), and Staff Sgt. Yam Frid (right)(Israel Defense Forces)

Two IDF soldiers were killed and at least six were wounded in separate incidents amid fighting in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday, the military announces.

The slain soldiers are named as:

Sgt. Yishai Elyakim Urbach, 20, of the Combat Engineering Corps’ 605th Battalion, from Zikhron Ya’akov.

Staff Sgt. Yam Frid, 21, of the Golani Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Sal’it.

MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE A REVOLUTION

According to an initial IDF probe of the first incident, Hamas operatives fired an RPG at a building in Rafah’s Jenina neighbourhood, where troops were stationed. The building partially collapsed on the troops, killing Urbach and wounding two others, including one seriously and one moderately.

The second incident took place some two hours later in the same area. According to the investigation, an armored personnel carrier was hit by an explosive device, killing Frid and wounding four other soldiers, including three listed in serious condition.

Hostage Updates

Mother of Tamir Nimrodi says he’s one of the hostages who may no longer be alive
Herut Nimrodi, mother of hostage Tamir Nimrodi, on May 8, 2025 (Courtesy screengrab)
Herut Nimrodi, mother of hostage soldier Tamir Nimrodi, says in a Zoom meeting with journalists organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and MediaCentral that her son is one of the three captives who may no longer be alive.
“It’s not that there’s new information,” says Nimrodi. “They are just mentioning the three hostages for whom there have been no signs of life since October 7.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday there is “doubt” as to whether three Israeli hostages held in Gaza are still alive, after comments by his wife and by US President Donald Trump had called into question Israel’s official estimate that 24 living hostages remain in the Strip.
As other hostages have been released in hostage deals or rescued from captivity, they have brought signs of life from other hostages.
“As hostages came home, we wished we’d get some details of Tamir, but nothing,” says Nimrodi. “There’s no indication yet and we’re still waiting.”
Nimrodi says there are serious concerns as to whether her son, an education officer serving in the Defense Ministry body that liaises with Palestinians on civilian affairs, has survived captivity, though those concerns have existed for the last 19 months.
“It’s been a very emotional couple of days for me because everybody has been asking me about Tamir,” says Nimrodi. “And there’s nothing new, but the comments from Sara Netanyahu and [US President Donald] Trump just raised the question of what has happened to him.”
Tamir Nimrodi was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, from his army base near Erez Crossing (Courtesy)
Nimrodi was one of the first hostages taken captive when he was abducted at 7:15 a.m. on October 7 from his base near the Gaza border. He texted his mother that morning, telling her he would be home soon.
Late that afternoon, his 14-year-old sister found a video posted by the terrorists on Instagram, showing Tamir in pajamas, barefoot and without his glasses. He was hiding his face so that the terrorists couldn’t hit him as hard.
“The last footage showed him being led by force into Gaza,” says Nimrodi. “And that’s the last sign of Tamir. There’s no indication whether he survived or not.”
“As a mother, I’m very worried,” she says. “If he’s surviving, if he’s held alone. I can’t even describe what that means to me.” link

Mother of hostage Elkana Bohbot fumes over mixed signals on how many captives dead
Ruhama Bohbot says ‘impossible’ to know if her son is still alive, ‘amidst all of the things that are not OK’ about his still being held hostage in Gaza

Ruhama Bohbot, mother of hostage Elkana Bohbot, poses for a portrait at home in Mevaseret Zion, Israel, May 7, 2025. (Maya Alleruzzo/AP)

Ruhama Bohbot was at home watching the news when she heard US President Donald Trump say something new: Three of the 24 hostages Israel considered to be alive in Gaza had probably died.

“As of today, it’s 21, three have died,” Trump said during a swearing-in ceremony for his special envoy to the Middle East.

Bohbot, who lives outside of Jerusalem, froze in terror — and then fury. Her 36-year-old son, Elkana, has been captive in Gaza since being abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023.

No Israeli officials have reached out to the Bohbot family to say the number of hostages believed to be alive had changed. Yet Bohbot thought back to a public event last week, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said 24 of the hostages still in Gaza were alive. A mic picked up his wife, Sara, as she quietly said, “fewer.”

Later, Netanyahu’s office dismissed the moment as a slip of the tongue.

“So we’re just continuing to live in hope that everything will be OK… even amidst all of the things that are not OK. Because it’s impossible to know,” Bohbot said.

Ruhama Bohbot, mother of hostage Elkana Bohbot, poses for a portrait with his poster at her home in Mevaseret Zion, Israel, May 7, 2025. (Maya Alleruzzo/AP)

Other parents of hostages also expressed their frustration at the situation and demanded clarification from the authorities.

Netanyahu said late Wednesday Israel was confident that 21 of the 59 remaining hostages are still alive but that there was “doubt” about three others. An Israeli official said the three, whom he did not identify, are considered alive until there is evidence proving otherwise. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details.

If there is “new information being kept from us, give it to us immediately,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an advocacy group, said Wednesday.

Some 5,600 Hamas-led terrorists killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 251 during their invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Elkana Bohbot and dozens of others were grabbed from a music festival, where more than 300 people were slaughtered.

Israel responded with a military offensive to destroy Hamas, topple its regime, and free the hostages.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 50,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel on October 7. 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.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 416.

Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot speaks in a Hamas propaganda video issued on March 29, 2025. (Screenshot: Telegram)

Hamas has published three videos of Elkana Bohbot in the past months which were filmed under duress. In the most recent video, from mid-April, Elkana holds a fake telephone conversation with his wife, Rivka; their son, Re’em; his mother; and his brother — pleading with them to help him get out of Gaza.

While the videos were a sign of life, Bohbot knows that they don’t guarantee that her son is still alive. Hearing the government’s approval this week to expand operations in Gaza deepened her concern about the fate of her son and the other hostages. Israel is “failing so utterly” to rescue the hostages, she said.

Israel’s decision to freeze all humanitarian aid likely meant her son also wasn’t getting food, she said. Humanitarian aid is the primary food source for 80 percent of Palestinians in Gaza, the World Food Program said in its monthly report for April, though that figure has likely risen in the past month.

“I just want to imagine that he’s holding on and that he’s okay for now, that’s my hope and that’s my belief right now,” she said.

Israel stopped allowing aid into Gaza on March 2 after the first phase of a ceasefire and hostage release deal ended, leading many organizations to warn of severe malnutrition and hunger in Gaza. Jerusalem argued that Hamas diverted much of the aid that entered during the six-week truce, but said that the 650 trucks per day were enough to feed the population for an extended period. Israel says it won’t allow food, fuel, water, or medicine into the territory until it puts in place a system giving it control over the distribution.

The IDF reportedly plans to transition away from wholesale distribution and warehousing of aid and to instead have international organizations and private security contractors hand out boxes of food to individual Gazan families, according to Israeli and Arab officials familiar with the matter. The UN and aid groups have rejected the proposal.

Ruhama Bohbot, mother of hostage Elkana Bohbot, has a picture of her son on display at her home in Mevaseret Zion, Israel, May 7, 2025. (Maya Alleruzzo/AP)

Bohbot is desperately hoping that Trump’s visit to the region next week may bring a breakthrough in ceasefire negotiations. Her family is still paying rent on a stall at a market in Tel Aviv, where Elkana had been planning to open a gourmet ice cream shop.

The family will mark Re’em’s fifth birthday next month – his second during his father’s captivity. Re’em has started saying things like “if my daddy comes home,” to which the family gently corrects him – “your daddy is coming home, just wait a little bit longer,” Bohbot said.

“He has binoculars that he made in kindergarten, he goes out occasionally and takes a look in the binoculars to look for his father,” Bohbot said. link

Ahead of Mother’s Day, mom of Edan Alexander says she’s unable to celebrate while son still in captivity

Hagit Chen, mother of hostage Itay Chen, considered to have been killed and his body taken captive on October 7, 2023, speaks during a Zoom interview on May 8, 2025. (Courtesy screengrab)

Hagit Chen, mother of hostage Itay Chen, a soldier whose remains were abducted by Hamas terrorists after he was killed on October 7, 2023, says that she finds it difficult to acknowledge that her son is dead, as there is no physical evidence of his death, only intelligence information.
“He was 19 when he was kidnapped, and I say he’s 21 because I’m counting the years since October 7,” says Chen. “We didn’t have a funeral, we didn’t sit shiva, we don’t have a grave, we can’t go to a cemetery. It’s really difficult to acknowledge that he’s dead, even though they pronounced that Itay is not alive. I still dream about him coming back to me.”
Chen, along with Yael Alexander, mother of hostage Edan Alexander, and Herut Nimrodi, mother of hostage Tamir Nimrodi, speak to the press ahead of Mother’s Day on Sunday, May 11. The three women talk about being mothers who haven’t seen their sons in 19 months, and the pain of not knowing their children’s fates.
Alexander, who lives in Tenafly, New Jersey, remarks about her family’s usual Mother’s Day celebrations, which follow her birthday on May 9. She says she is unable to celebrate anything since Edan was taken captive.
“Sadness is all over me,” she says. “I don’t sleep at night, I cry every night. It’s 580 days and still I’m stuck on October 7. The emotions, the fear, the emptiness in my heart. I’m just hoping something is going to happen, that we’re going to see changes in the near future. We have to have this closure.”
The three women speak about first hearing in the media about the comments made by Sara Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump regarding doubts about three hostages who may no longer be alive.
“It’s not okay to get any news like that,” says Alexander. “To suddenly hear Sara Netanyahu say something like it doesn’t matter, and then President Trump, it was very disturbing and concerning for all the families. This is a human life.”

Yael Alexander, mother of hostage Edan Alexander, speaks during a Zoom interview on May 8, 2025 (Courtesy Screengrab)
Alexander adds that her family is hoping and praying that Trump’s upcoming visit to the Middle East next week will yield some movement, declaration, or announcement regarding the hostages.
“President Trump is known as a very creative person and we want him to surprise us with some good news,” says Chen. link

Smotrich met with families of hostages: “I am the majority – and the majority is not interested in a deal”

The Minister of Finance visited Kibbutz Nahal Oz, and met with the management of the kibbutz and with Lishi Miran, the wife of the hostage Omri Miran • Smotrich claimed: “I am the majority – and the majority does not want the return of the hostages in exchange for the end of the war” • Latest polls actually show: an absolute majority of the public is interested in a deal • From Smotrich’s office it was stated: “He reiterated his commitment to return the hostages, but not at the price of surrender to Hamas”

The statement of Smotrich during the visit to the Gaza envelope: The Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich held yesterday (Wednesday) a visit to Kibbutz Nahal Oz. This, in order to assess the rehabilitation needs in the place. He also met there with the management of the kibbutz and with Lishi Miran, whose husband Omri is being held in captivity by Hamas in Gaza.

Members of the kibbutz confronted Smotrich with the latest polls, which show that his party is not passing the electoral threshold – and that the majority of the people does want a hostage deal.

Thus for example, from a poll published at the end of last month on “Ulpan Shishi” it emerges that nearly 70% of the public is interested in a hostage deal, even if it includes the end of the war in Gaza. According to the poll, a majority of 68% of respondents supports a hostage deal, 22% oppose the deal, and 10% do not know.

Almost identical data emerged in another poll that was published at the end of the month of March.

Lishi Miran Lavi, the wife of Omri Miran

Smotrich met with Lishi Miran, the wife of Omri Miran the hostage in Gaza

From Smotrich’s office it was stated: “The Minister of Finance indeed held a long and significant meeting with Lishi Miran that included a deep conversation during which the minister reiterated his commitment to the return of the hostages, but in no way at the price of surrender to Hamas which would endanger the security and the future of Israel.”

The meeting of Smotrich with the members of the kibbutz was long, and lasted about an hour and a half. During the meeting he said to those present: “I am the majority of the people, and the majority does not want the return of the hostages in exchange for the end of the war.” link. I have said many times and will say again, Smotrich, the most unqualified Finance Minister in Israel's history, is one of the most disgusting politician in Israel. He has made it clear since the beginning of the war that his interests are far more important than the lives of the hostages. He states that he cares about the hostages and even shed a crocodile tear when he visited Kibbutz Nir Oz where 1 in every 4 people were killed or kidnapped on October 7. He said that he would consider his visit to the kibbutz when he was going to vote about any hostage deal. His consideration didn't go very far. He, along with the disgusting convicted criminal minister of internal 'insecurity' Ben Gvir have threatened Netanyahu with bolting the government if a deal for the hostages which includes ending the war or pull out of troops is approved. As far as him being the majority, nothing could be further from the truth. Every poll for the last 6 months at least has shown a majority of the population in favor of a hostage deal even if it includes ending the war. The majority as reached close to 80%. In addition, 95% of the polls since the beginning of the war have shown the Smotrich and his extreme messianic racist party would not reach the threshold to enter the Knesset in the next elections. He is definitely not the majority no matter how many times he wants to state that lie.

Official says 3 hostages whose fate is in doubt are two foreigners, one Israeli
A day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirms that Israel believes 21 hostages are alive and that there is grave doubt regarding the fate of three other captives, an official with knowledge of the details says that “no signs of life have been received from [the three hostages] since the period shortly after the outbreak of the war.”

24 hostages confirmed alive or whose fate is unknown (Photo: Courtesy of the family, Shiran Itzhaki Photography, from the family album, family photo)

“Their families have been updated on this situation since then,” says the official.

Two are foreign nationals, and one is Israeli, the official continues.

Two foreign hostages have not been officially declared dead – Bipin Joshi of Nepal and Pinta Nattapong of Thailand.

Hamas and other terror groups are holding 59 hostages, 35 of whom are confirmed dead – 32 Israeli, and 3 foreigners.

“The families of the hostages are continuously and thoroughly updated about the condition of their loved ones,” says the official, adding that “all relevant information” is conveyed to hostage families by intelligence officers.

The relevant embassies in Israel maintain contact with the families of foreign hostages, says the official.

“Their families are supported by Israel, just as the families of Israeli hostages are supported.”

Bipin Joshi was abducted on October 7 from Kibbutz Alumim. He had taken shelter with others in a fortified room when terrorists threw in a grenade. Joshi managed to throw the first grenade out, saving lives, but a second one left him and others unconscious. He was kidnapped along with several Thai agricultural workers.

Joshi had arrived in Israel less than a month before the massacre. He had a deep interest in agriculture and was eager to return to Nepal with new skills and knowledge. Friends described his dream of becoming an agricultural entrepreneur in his homeland.

Netphong Phinta, a father of a 7-year-old son in Thailand, was kidnapped the same day from Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he worked in agriculture. He came to Israel in 2022 to support his family financially. His wife and son are awaiting his return in anguish. “A hard-working, beloved man in the kibbutz, always smiling and calm—Netphong left a mark on everyone who met him. We’re all waiting for you, Netphong, and praying for your safe return. We won’t give up until you and all the hostages come home,” the kibbutz wrote.

Dermer met with Trump at the White House to discuss Iran talks, Gaza war

Dermer, the person Netanyahu put in charge of the hostage negotiations doesn’t even mention the hostages, as per this report. His priority is Netanyahu’s priority, keep the war going and sacrifice the hostages, if need be.

Gaza and the South

IDF says over 150 targets struck across Gaza in the past 3 days

An Israeli fighter jet drops flares above the Gaza Strip as pictured from a position near the southern Israeli border with the coastal enclave, on May 8. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

The IDF says it struck over 150 targets in the Gaza Strip in the past 72 hours, including cells of terror operatives, buildings used by terror groups, and other infrastructure.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reported nearly 200 dead in the past three days. The figures have not been verified and do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

A drone strike yesterday in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah killed a Hamas commander, identified by the IDF as Nasser Juma. The military says he was a veteran member of Hamas’s rocket production unit.

Red Cross says Israeli aid blockade of Gaza ‘unacceptable,’ humanitarian situation on ‘razor’s edge’

Palestinian boys salvage bread from a makeshift bakery hit in Israeli strikes at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on May 8, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)

The Red Cross has denounced the human cost of the war raging in Gaza, slamming Israel’s “unacceptable” full blockade on aid into the besieged and conflict-ravaged Palestinian territory.

Aid agencies have repeatedly warned of a growing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, which they say has been exacerbated by an Israeli blockade on all aid since early March.

“It is unacceptable that humanitarian aid is not allowed into the Gaza Strip,” Pierre Krahenbuhl, director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), tells reporters in Geneva.

“That’s just fundamentally against anything that international humanitarian law provides.”

The situation in Gaza is on a “razor’s edge” and “the next few days are absolutely decisive,” he adds.

“There’s a moment where we will also run out of anything that’s left in terms of medical supplies and other” aid, he says.

Israel denies a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the Gaza Strip, where it plans to expand military operations to force Hamas to free hostages held there since the terror group’s unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack.

At the same time, officials have acknowledged that food is running low and that new supplies will need to be brought in soon. Israel is reportedly working on a new mechanism to supply aid in a manner that will prevent goods from being stolen by Hamas, as Israel has accused the terror group of diverting much of the aid that goes in.

“Right now, the most effective way to get aid to people is to lift… actions or decisions that were taken to prevent aid from reaching” inside Gaza, Krahenbuhl says.

“There are huge quantities of aid that are on the borders of Gaza that can go in tomorrow,” he insists.

The IDF and Shin Bet announce that a Hamas terrorist involved in the kidnapping of Yaffa Adar, 85, during the October 7, 2023, onslaught was killed in an airstrike in Gaza City yesterday.

This screenshot from a video shows the abduction of hostage Yaffa Adar on October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorist Mohammed Rasmi Marzouk Baraka. (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF and Shin Bet announce that a Hamas terrorist involved in the kidnapping of Yaffa Adar, 85, during the October 7, 2023, onslaught was killed in an airstrike in Gaza City yesterday.

The terrorist is identified as Mohammed Rasmi Marzouk Baraka, a member of Hamas’s intelligence division.

Baraka can be seen in infamous footage showing the abduction of Adar from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Adar was released from captivity in November 2023.

The second terrorist in the car, Asim Hatab, was reportedly killed several months following Adar’s abduction, though the military has not confirmed this.

The military does not say where in Gaza City the strike took place yesterday.

Hamas authorities reported yesterday that a strike on a former school in the neighborhood of Tuffah in Gaza City killed at least 15, and another strike near a market in the city killed a further 33. The figures have not been verified and do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

The IDF says Hamas “systematically violates international law, while cynically using civilian infrastructure for terror activity.”

Leading agency shuts its Gaza soup kitchens amid continued Israeli aid ban
US-based World Central Kitchen, which was serving 133,000 meals a day and baking 80,000 loaves of bread, says Israel’s blockade of Strip means there is no food left

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza — Israel’s ongoing blockade of humanitarian assistance for Gaza forced a leading aid group on Thursday to shut its community soup kitchens, facing empty warehouses and no replenishment of supplies in the war-battered enclave.

The US-based World Central Kitchen was serving 133,000 meals per day and baking 80,000 loaves of bread over the past weeks, but said it was forced to suspend operations since there is almost no food left in Gaza for the organization to cook.

Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade that it imposed in March after the collapse of a ceasefire deal. Israel has accused agencies, including the United Nations, of allowing large quantities of aid to fall into the hands of the Hamas terror group, which seizes supplies intended for civilians for its own forces.

Organizations briefed on the initiative have expressed heavy skepticism, arguing that it fails to adequately address the humanitarian crisis in the war-ravaged enclave and requires them to be complicit in the “weaponization” of aid by Israel.

Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, May 5, 2025. (Abdel Kareem Hana/AP)

Gaza’s population is already battered by 19 months of war triggered on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which rules Gaza, led a devastating invasion of southern Israel.

In April, the World Food Program said its food stocks in Gaza had run out under Israel’s blockade, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory.

A local volunteer of the World Central Kitchen cooks meals to be distributed to needy Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 3, 2024. (AFP)

Malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in the Gaza Strip as Israel’s blockade enters its third month. Aid agencies say a shortage of food and supplies has driven the territory toward starvation, and supplies to treat and prevent malnutrition are depleted and quickly running out.

Community kitchens such as the ones run by World Central Kitchen are a lifeline for hundreds of thousands for their daily meal, but many are shutting down due to a lack of supplies.

At those still open, chaotic scenes of desperate men, women, and children fighting to get meager rations are common. Bakeries have closed, while water distribution is grinding to a halt due to a lack of fuel.

Since the start of the war, World Central Kitchen said it has served more than 130 million meals and baked 80 million loaves of bread. The organization also said on Thursday there was no flour left in its mobile bakery.

“Our trucks — loaded with food and supplies — are waiting in Egypt, Jordan and Israel, ready to enter Gaza,” said José Andrés, the celebrity chef who founded the organization. “But they cannot move without permission. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow.”

A bundle of humanitarian aid with the logo of World Central Kitchen (WCK) is seen at the Kerem Shalom border crossing to Gaza, in southern Israel, May 30, 2024. (Tsafrir Abayov/AP)

COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid to Gaza, said the blockade would continue unless the Israeli government changed its policy.

Since the start of the year, more than 10,000 children have been admitted or treated for acute malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization. The increase was particularly dramatic in March, with 3,600 cases — an 80 percent increase, compared to the 2,000 children in February, UNICEF reported.

Nearly half of the 200 nutrition centers around Gaza have shut down because of displacement and bombardment.

An April 2024 Israeli strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy killed seven aid workers, for which the IDF apologized.

Then, in December, the organization fired 62 workers after Israel said that dozens of staff were linked to terror groups. link

IDF says it hit over 60 terror targets in Gaza, struck Hamas targets in Morag Corridor. The IDF says it struck over 60 targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day, including cells of terror operatives, buildings used by terror groups, weapon depots and other infrastructure.

In addition, dozens of strikes were carried out overnight by the Israeli Air Force against Hamas targets in the Morag Corridor area of southern Gaza, in a joint operation with the 36th Division, the military says.

Elsewhere in Gaza, a drone strike yesterday killed a terror operative who emerged from a tunnel near where ground forces were operating, the army says, and another strike hit a building from which troops came under fire.

Northern Israel, Lebanon and Syria

West Bank, Jerusalem, Israel and Terror Attacks

Security forces say Palestinian gunman killed by troops in Nablus

A police handout photo shows a handgun, cash and a tactical vest that were recovered from a Palestinian gunman killed in the northern West Bank city of Nablus on May 8, 2025. (Israel Police)
A wanted Palestinian gunman was killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Nablus a short while ago, the IDF, police, and Shin Bet say.
Undercover Border Police officers entered Nablus to detain a member of the former Lion’s Den terror group, who was allegedly planning attacks.
According to police, the officers covertly reached the area where the suspect was and identified him as armed. The officers opened fire, killing the wanted man.
A handgun and cash were found on his body, and a tactical vest was found in his car, police say.
Another wanted Palestinian was detained by the forces in the area and handed over to the Shin Bet for questioning, the statement says.
During the operation, troops opened fire on Palestinians hurling explosives and shooting at the forces. No Israeli forces were hurt, the statement adds.

Politics and the War and General News

Trump drops Biden’s demand that Saudis recognize Israel in nuclear deal with US

The United States is no longer demanding Saudi Arabia normalize ties with Israel as a condition for progress on civil nuclear cooperation talks, two sources with knowledge of the matter tell Reuters ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit next week.

Washington would be making a major concession by dropping the demand that Saudi Arabia establish diplomatic relations with Israel. Under former US president Joe Biden, nuclear talks were an element of a wider US-Saudi deal tied to normalization and Riyadh’s goal of a defense treaty with Washington.

The kingdom has repeatedly said it would not recognize Israel without a Palestinian state, frustrating Biden administration attempts to expand the Abraham Accords signed during Trump’s first term. Under those accords, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco normalized relations with Israel. Progress toward Saudi recognition of Israel has been halted by fury in Arab countries over the war raging in Gaza. The nuclear talks had also stumbled over Washington’s non-proliferation concerns.

In a possible sign of a new approach, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that Saudi Arabia and the United States were on a “pathway” to a civil nuclear agreement when he visited the kingdom in April.

“When we have something to announce, you will hear it from the President. Any reports on this are speculative,” US National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt tells Reuters in response to a request for comment.

Saudi Arabia’s government media office doesn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Even without the normalization requirement for civil nuclear talks to progress, and despite unpacking the issue from a wider defense treaty, a deal is not yet in close reach, one of the sources says. Link. This is all on Netanyahu. He thought that he had Trump in his back pocket but Trump is tired of relying on Netanyahu because Netanyahu only says 'NO!' to what he says is not acceptable, never giving a "YES" to what is acceptable. Normalizations with Saudi Arabia would be a game changer for the entire region but Netanyahu refuses to accept the conditions, specifically ending the war in Gaza and presenting a plan and actions towards ending the Israel/Palestinian conflict which must be a 2 State Solution. Netanyahu has been willing to sacrifice everything so as not to negotiate with the Palestinians, which is one of the major sources that brought us October 7.
The other major point that needs to be recognized is that Trump is not exactly the friend to Israel that he and Netanyahu have sold to the Jewish world. Trump will sell out anyone and everyone to achieve his business goals and Saudi Arabia presents many of his business goals.

Macron: Peace would require hostages be freed, Hamas disarmed, PA reformed

French President Emmanuel Macron addresses the People’s Peace Summit in Jerusalem, organized by almost 60 grassroots organizations, in a video message.

“Your mobilization is a signal of hope in a time marked by pain, fear and misunderstanding that live in all of us since the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, and the tragedy that struck the Palestinian people in Gaza,” says Macron.

The French leader highlights that France lost the highest number of citizens after Israel in the Hamas onslaught and remembers the many peace activists killed by the terrorists.

Macron says that “France will always stand with builders of peace.”

He says that in this spirit, he will co-chair a conference for the two-state solution with Saudi Arabia in June. He says that the release of hostages, disarmament of Hamas and reform of the Palestinian Authority are “prerequisites” to achieve a long-lasting peace.

The Region and the World

Personal Stories

Moran Stella Yanai: “The terrorist smiled and said: ‘We will meet in four years’”

For 54 days Moran Stella Yanai was in Hamas captivity in Gaza after she was kidnapped from the Nova party. Since she returned she has devoted herself to doing everything in her power for the return of all the hostages – and in a special interview she shared about the national and personal struggle: “Until today I pay a physical and emotional price for what happened in captivity”

The captivity survivor Moran Stella Yanai was released after 54 days in Hamas captivity and since then she has been acting without stop for the return of the hostages who remained behind. And still, in an interview with Nesli Berda on “Morning News” Stella Yanai admits to the anxiety that still accompanies her. “Half of our soul is still in Gaza with those who remained there. The other half is trying to understand what to do in order to get them out,” she said this morning (Thursday).

This is a difficult mission, what can you do?
“Every person has power to make change, I started with diplomacy and then I continued to businesspeople. When I did not get the feedback I wanted I went to speak with youth, every morning I try to understand where there can be something that will sweep more people for the important goal. We must not deal with anything else.”

Stella Yanai referred to the gap between her activity for the return of hostages and the activity of the government that promotes a return to fighting that may, according to assessments of security officials, lead to harm to them. “There is no politics in me, I do not live it day-to-day. The politicians do what they want, my war is not against them but against the world so that it will change its thinking,” she said and shared a shocking story from captivity: “A Hamasnik sat opposite me, smiled, and said: ‘We will meet in four years.’ There is a possibility that this will happen. I trembled for a second in fear, and apparently that indicates what he said. I told myself that I must do everything so that this thing will not happen.”

What needs to happen so that this will not happen?
“This is perhaps a banal answer, but there needs to be mandatory enlistment of 100 percent citizens, in the country and abroad, who will act only for the return of the hostages. In the end it is on us, I am not looking for guilty parties because that will take energy from me. It is like how I did not give the Hamas terrorist my anger, and I am not comparing God forbid.”

Do you feel that you can connect to what the hostages who are still there are going through?
“Until today I pay a physical and emotional price for what happened in captivity, there are still deep anxieties because today I know what can be. I came out eight kilograms less, and we saw in what state Eden Yerushalmi of blessed memory was found. I only think about the state of the men who are still there and slowly losing their human form. The days pass, they eat food that is not nutritious, sometimes spoiled. I am still going through rehabilitation, they are there almost 600 days. I do not understand how there are still not millions in the streets.”

Stella Yanai, a jewelry designer, also shared about the booth that has now become art. “When I arranged the table for the exhibition, feelings of the 6th of October rose in me,” said the one for whom the Nova party was the first time she came to the festival with her jewelry. “I remember that I was excited from the first time I was at the festival and about how things would develop in the future.”

Do you have emotional space to build a life and family?
“I am very ready for that from a mature and pure place. My victory picture is to show the terrorists that in prison there is a husband and children. I gave up on children before the 7th of October, and in captivity there was one day that I closed my eyes and a picture of a baby jumped into my mind. My entire body language recruited itself to this thing, I understood that I am proud of myself and want to pass this on further.” 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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