🎗️Lonny's War Update- October 596, 2023 - May 24, 2025 🎗️
Three months after release, Omer Shem Tov deals with guilt of enjoying everyday life
On trip to Boston, where he threw first pitch at his first-ever baseball game, ex-hostage recounts abuse and starvation, expresses fear renewed Gaza op will kill those left behind
Former hostage Omer Shem Tov, center, celebrates as he is received at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, May 15, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Three months after his release from Hamas captivity, Omer Shem Tov stood on the pitcher’s mound at a Boston Red Sox game. Surrounded by supporters, he tossed out the first pitch, then raised his arms in celebration. His name flashed on the stadium billboard.The moment was emblematic of the newfound — and for Shem Tov, unsought and at times unsettling — celebrity the 22-year-old has found since his release from 505 days of captivity in the Gaza Strip.
Before being taken hostage, Shem Tov had just finished military service, was working in a restaurant, having fun with friends and planning an overseas trip. Now, he’s in the public eye as he travels the globe campaigning for the release of the remaining 58 hostages, about a third of whom are believed still alive.
Upon his arrival at Boston’s Logan International Airport on Thursday, Shem Tov was greeted by dozens of schoolchildren and their teachers — wearing “Boston Loves Omer” T-shirts — singing Israeli songs in Hebrew and dancing with him.
He toured Gillette Stadium, home of the NFL’s New England Patriots and Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution. He met with an Israeli player for the Revolution, and saw the Patriots’ six Super Bowl rings. Both teams are owned by entrepreneur Robert Kraft, whose foundation campaigns against antisemitism.
“I don’t like the word, but I’m famous,” Shem Tov acknowledged of the chance to throw out the first pitch at his very first baseball game ever, and the other firsts he’s had in Boston.
Former hostage Omer Shem Tov delivers the ceremonial first pitch from the pitcher’s mound at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, prior to a baseball game between the New York Mets and the Boston Red Sox, as he is flanked by supporters wearing shirts with the latter team’s name in Hebrew, May 19, 2025, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa). Video of first pitch by Omer Shem Tov“I know that a lot of people, a big nation waited for me and a lot of people [fought] for me to come back home,” he said of the international campaign waged by hostage families since he and 250 others were abducted on October 7, 2023, when Hamas stormed southern Israel by the thousands to kill some 1,200 people.
Israel’s offensive against Hamas has destroyed huge areas of Gaza and displaced roughly 90% of its population. More than 53,000 people have been killed in the fighting, according to the Strip’s Hamas-run health ministry. The figure cannot be independently verified and does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 gunmen in battle as of January, as well as about 1,600 terrorists inside the country during the October 7 onslaught.
A return to normal, but also a sense of guilt
Shem Tov believes he is doing “something important” but said it “can be hard.” His return to normal life has not been without challenges. He still freezes when he hears the sound of a jet plane, and is wracked with guilt that things he now enjoys are beyond the reach of the remaining hostages.
“I get greeted in the street. People stop me and want selfies and stuff like this,” he said. “I support it and I will speak to anyone, anyone, anyone … because everyone wants to give out love.”
Still, little things like “going and grabbing a bite to eat, I feel it here,” Shem Tov said, clutching his throat. “It’s choking me that I know what they are going through. Maybe they don’t have food.”
“I remember taking the first bite of anything, it was heavenly,” he said. “I’m showering and I have guilt that they don’t take a shower.”
Shem Tov, who was snatched from the Reim-are Nova music festival, described trying to flee with friends Maya and Itay Regev in a car driven by Ori Danino, whom they had met the previous night. Terrorists shot at the car, forced them out and dragged them into Gaza. The Regev siblings were released in the weeklong November 2023 ceasefire; Danino was murdered in captivity the following August.
“I remember the festival itself, the freedom and happiness and us as youth having fun,” Shem Tov said.
“In seconds, life changed for us. My friends who were there with me, some got killed. Those who came back, they are not the same.”
Shem Tov said he was initially held above ground with Itay Regev, shuttled between apartments in Gaza — wearing women’s clothes to hide their identities.
He was eventually moved to a cell 40 meters (130 feet) underground, where he was often in total darkness. He survived on little more than a biscuit daily, he said — dropping from around 80 kilograms (176 pounds) to 55 kilograms (121 pounds).
(L-R:) Freed hostages Omer Shem Tov, Itay Regev and Maya Regev address protesters at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, May 3, 2025. (Flash90)“There were times I thought, I’m blind. I have been starved. I have been spat on. I’ve been cursed. Difficult, difficult times,” Shem Tov said.
His faith got him through the worst, he said. He began daily conversations with God, offering a greeting and, over time, thanks for all he had — the “air in my lungs,” “the small amounts of food that I have” and that his family was safe.
Shem Tov said he initially wasn’t aware of the battle raging above him. But when he was moved to a tunnel closer to the surface, he could hear Israeli tanks rumbling above and bombs shaking the area.
At one point, he could hear Israeli soldiers’ voices through a ventilation unit.
“As much as I was glad to hear them, I was very, very scared for my life,” he said. “The captors that kept me in the tunnels told me that as soon as the army or soldiers are heading here, we’ll shoot you.”
IDF soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip in a picture released on July 30, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)‘The first time I feel safe’
When he was released on February 22 with five others as part of a ceasefire deal, video showed Shem Tov surrounded by masked, armed Hamas fighters. Under duress, he was seen kissing the head of a Hamas fighter and blowing kisses to the crowd. A van passed in front of the stage, he recalled, and a door opened revealing two hostages who were not being released.
He was handed over to the Red Cross and taken to an area controlled by the Israeli military. “I get out of the vehicle, I look around, I see the sky, the sun. The first time, I feel safe,” he said, adding that he asked the IDF officer who received him if he could hug her.
“It’s the first time in forever I feel love and warmth,” he said.
Shem Tov was taken to meet his parents — his mother, Shelly Shem Tov, had kept his bedroom as he left it, with instructions that nobody should touch or clean it until he came home and did it himself.
“I see my mom and my dad and I run up to them, and I hug them,” Shem Tov said. “I waited for this moment for so long. I imagined it for so long. This is what I want every hostage to experience.”
Released hostage Omer Shem Tov, flanked by his parents, on a helicopter being transported to a hospital in central Israel on February 22, 2025 (IDF)Shem Tov has embraced the role of advocating for those still hostage — something his parents were already doing — telling anyone who listens they must be brought home.
“It’s really fulfilling. I love what I am doing but don’t like the cause,” he said. “I wish they were all here today. I hope it will be soon and in good circumstances.”
And while he is reluctant to talk politics, Shem Tov worries Israel’s latest offensive in Gaza puts the remaining hostages in danger.
“Every soldier for me is a hero,” he said. “But there is a big but. For me and the hostages, it’s difficult for us while the army is in the area. Places near us are being bombed. I support the army but we have to get them out.”
“If you keep on going with the military pressure, there is a big chance they will be killed.”
🎗️Day 596 that 58 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
*7:30pm yesterday- Gaza envelope-rockets from north Gaza- Nir Am
IDF says Palestinian attempted to stab troops in Hebron; attacker ‘neutralized’
A Palestinian attempted to stab troops at a checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron a short while ago, the military says.
Troops “neutralized” the assailant, the army adds.
Gaza and the South
Footage shows hundreds of Gazans thronging bakery distributing bread amid slightly eased Israeli blockade
Gazans flood a bakery in Nuseirat refugee camp during a distribution of bread amid a slightly eased Israeli aid blockade on May 23, 2025. (Screen capture/X)
The scenes point to the limited food security throughout the Strip, where US President Donald Trump has said people have been starving for weeks amid the Israeli blockade, which has been aimed at squeezing Hamas to release hostages but has come at a steep cost to the civilian population. Yesterday, the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority health minister said that 29 children and elderly people have died from starvation-related deaths in Gaza in recent days and that many thousands more are at risk. Israeli authorities claim that there is not currently a food shortage in Gaza.
Israel has allowed in several hundred trucks of aid this week, and the assistance included flour for bakeries that have allowed some of them to begin operating again.
The World Food Program, which operates some of those bakeries, confirmed earlier this week that some of their sites in central and southern Gaza have reopened. Video
After delays, Palestinians say first food aid beginning to be distributed in Gaza
‘We expect distribution of bread to begin,’ says Gazan aid worker, but it’s ‘a drop in the ocean’ of need; IDF issues large evacuation order for north Gaza
Employees work inside a bakery in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, after Israel allowed limited humanitarian aid to enter the Palestinian territory on May 22, 2025.(Eyad BABA / AFPFlour and other food aid will start reaching some of Gaza’s most vulnerable people on Thursday, aid workers said, as the United Nations confirmed that aid groups “collected and dispatched” around 90 of some 200 trucks that Israel has allowed to enter this week, but Palestinian officials said it is nowhere near enough to make up for shortages caused by an 11-week blockade.
Israel allowed 100 trucks carrying baby food and medical equipment into the enclave on Wednesday, another 90 on Tuesday and five on Monday, after announcing its first relaxation of the restrictions under mounting international pressure.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, said the trucks that entered carried medicine, wheat flour and nutrition supplies.
Aid groups have faced significant challengesdistributing the aid because of insecurity, the risk of looting and coordination issues with Israeli authorities, Laerke added.
Most of the supplies have been sitting on the Gaza side of the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel, and the UN said Wednesday that the route offered to them by the IDF was not safe and that they feared looting, which was why the distribution was delayed.
Israel had blocked all aid from entering Gaza since March 2, arguing that sufficient humanitarian assistance had entered the Strip during a six-week ceasefire before that and that Hamas was stealing aid. It said the blockade was part of an effort to pressure the terror group to release the dozens of hostages it is still holding.
Palestinians gather to receive a hot meal at a food distribution point in the Nuseirat camp for refugees in the central Gaza Strip on May 21, 2025. (Eyad BABA / AFP)The UN has said a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million people were at risk of famine, and some officials in the IDF warned the political leadership that the enclave was on the brink of starvation.
“Some bakeries will begin receiving flour to produce bread, and we expect the distribution of bread to begin later today,” Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network in Gaza, told Reuters.
He said just 90 trucks had gotten through so far. “During the ceasefire, 600 trucks used to enter every day, which means that the current quantity is a drop in the ocean, nothing,” he said.
Bakeries backed by the UN’s World Food Programme will produce the bread and the agency’s staff will hand it out — a more controlled system than previously, when bakers sold it directly to the public at a low cost, he added.
“The idea is to try and reach the most needy families, those who are desperate, as it is just the start,” Shawa said.
Umm Talal al-Masri, 53, a displaced Palestinian in Gaza City, described the situation as “unbearable.”
“No one is distributing anything to us. Everyone is waiting for aid, but we haven’t received anything,” she said. “We barely manage to prepare one meal a day.”
The UN has said a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million people were at risk of famine, and some officials in the IDF warned the political leadership that the enclave was on the brink of starvation.
“Some bakeries will begin receiving flour to produce bread, and we expect the distribution of bread to begin later today,” Amjad al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network in Gaza, told Reuters.
He said just 90 trucks had gotten through so far. “During the ceasefire, 600 trucks used to enter every day, which means that the current quantity is a drop in the ocean, nothing,” he said.
Bakeries backed by the UN’s World Food Programme will produce the bread and the agency’s staff will hand it out — a more controlled system than previously, when bakers sold it directly to the public at a low cost, he added.
“The idea is to try and reach the most needy families, those who are desperate, as it is just the start,” Shawa said.
Umm Talal al-Masri, 53, a displaced Palestinian in Gaza City, described the situation as “unbearable.”
“No one is distributing anything to us. Everyone is waiting for aid, but we haven’t received anything,” she said. “We barely manage to prepare one meal a day.”
Displaced Palestinians pass through the Gaza Valley in the Nuseirat area on al-Rashid Street on May 21, 2025, making their way from the north to the south. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)Fresh strikes and evacuation notices
As the first aid arrived since the blockade, Israeli military strikes on Gaza killed at least 35 Palestinians across the enclave on Thursday, local Hamas-run health authorities said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reports. It has repeatedly said it targets terror infrastructure and operatives and seeks to avoid civilian casualties.
Midday Thursday, the IDF issued a wide evacuation warning for the northern Gaza Strip, as part of its new offensive against Hamas.
In a post on X, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, called for Palestinians residing in Sheikh Zayed, Salatin, Beit Lahiya, Jabalia and nearby towns to evacuate south.
He warned that the IDF was operating “with great force” in these areas, and they were considered “dangerous combat zones.”
A similar warning for parts of northern Gaza was issued on Wednesday evening, in what the army said was a response to rocket fire.
It said that one “projectile that was identified crossing into Israel from the northern Gaza Strip was intercepted” by the air force. It later announced three more launches from northern Gaza, but said the projectiles had fallen inside the Palestinian territory.
Israeli army tanks take position at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip on May 22, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)In Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of the enclave, a tank shell hit a medicine warehouse inside Al-Awda Hospital and set it ablaze, the Hamas health ministry said Thursday. Rescue workers tried to extinguish the fires for hours, it added.
Tanks were stationed outside the hospital, medics said, effectively blocking access to the facility.
The Gaza healthcare system has been barely functioning amid the war, with most of the medical facilities out of order.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas led the October 7, 2023, invasion of southern Israel, which killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 hostages taken to the Strip. Fifty-eight hostages remain in captivity, of whom at least 35 are dead, according to Israeli assessments.
A picture taken from the Israeli side of the border with the Gaza Strip shows destroyed buildings in the northern sector of the besieged Palestinian territory on May 22, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)More than 53,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the war, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. That toll includes hundreds of Gazans killed in strikes since Israel initiated a fresh intensive operation last week.
The Hamas-run health ministry on Thursday published a list of 16,503 children and teenagers up to age 18 it claims were killed as a direct result of the war in Gaza, meaning as a result of gunfire and bombings.
The full list includes names, ID numbers, birth dates, and information on how the data on their deaths was collected — either from hospital casualty lists or updates provided by their families to the ministry.
There is no independent verification of the data. In the past, studies have pointed to inaccuracies and errors in the lists and figures published by the Hamas-controlled authorities in Gaza, which routinely don’t differentiate between combatants and civilians, and allegedly include some killed by misfired Palestinian rockets or from natural causes.
In addition, Hamas and other terror groups are known to regularly employ older teens as operatives.
IDF says air force struck over 100 targets in Gaza over past day
The Israeli Air Force struck over 100 targets in the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military says.
The targets included a launcher used to fire a rocket at southern Israel yesterday afternoon. Other targets included terror operatives, buildings used by terror groups, tunnels, and other infrastructure, the IDF says.
Additionally, the military says ground forces killed several operatives and destroyed booby-trapped buildings, tunnel infrastructure, anti-tank launch posts, and other sites used by terror groups. Video
- IDF kills 6 gunmen guarding trucks amid looting as humanitarian aid trickles into Gaza
UN chief says Palestinians entering ‘cruelest phase of war’; footage on social media shows crowd of Gazans surrounding bakeryAn Israeli drone strike on Friday killed six Palestinian gunmen who Hamas claimed were guarding aid trucks against looters, as the head of the United Nations warned that only a “teaspoon” of aid was getting in following Israel’s 11-week-long blockade.
The Israeli military said 83 trucks carrying flour, food, pharmaceutical drugs, and medical equipment entered the Gaza Strip from the Kerem Shalom crossing point on Friday, for a total of 388 since Monday, when the blockade was eased.
However, an umbrella network of Palestinian aid groups provided a separate figure, saying only 119 aid trucks have passed the Kerem Shalom crossing point and into Gaza. The discrepancy was likely because many of the trucks were not picked up by the aid groups from the Palestinian side of the crossing for distribution.
An Israeli drone strike on Friday killed six Palestinian gunmen who Hamas claimed were guarding aid trucks against looters, as the head of the United Nations warned that only a “teaspoon” of aid was getting in following Israel’s 11-week-long blockade.
The Israeli military said 83 trucks carrying flour, food, pharmaceutical drugs, and medical equipment entered the Gaza Strip from the Kerem Shalom crossing point on Friday, for a total of 388 since Monday, when the blockade was eased.
However, an umbrella network of Palestinian aid groups provided a separate figure, saying only 119 aid trucks have passed the Kerem Shalom crossing point and into Gaza. The discrepancy was likely because many of the trucks were not picked up by the aid groups from the Palestinian side of the crossing for distribution.
Regardless, getting the supplies to people sheltering in tents and other makeshift accommodations has been fitful, and UN officials say at least 500 to 600 trucks of aid are needed every day.
Despite the easing of the blockade, distribution has also been hampered by looting by groups of men, some of them armed, near the city of Khan Younis, an umbrella network representing Palestinian aid groups said.
“They stole food meant for children and families suffering from severe hunger,” the network said in a statement, which also condemned Israeli airstrikes on security teams protecting the trucks.
Displaced Palestinians reach out for bread being distributed through a bakery window in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, May 22, 2025. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)A Hamas official said six members of a security team tasked with guarding the shipments were killed early Friday in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah.
In response to a query by The Times of Israel, the IDF said that it targeted the gunmen, some of them Hamas members, after identifying them near the trucks, adding “the aid was not hit as a result of the strike.”
The army did not elaborate on how it knew that only some of the armed operatives targeted were Hamas members.
Hamas claimed that the targeted gunmen were “members of the aid security and protection teams… who were performing purely humanitarian tasks.”
A military source denied Hamas’s allegation that the targets were local security, saying, “This is a false and unfounded claim.”
“This is another example of the cynical use by terror organizations in the Gaza Strip of civilians and humanitarian aid infrastructure that enters the area. The IDF will allow humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, while making every effort to ensure that the humanitarian aid does not reach terror organizations,” the IDF added in its response.
While critics argue that armed guards are needed to secure aid to prevent looting, given the desperate need for food in Gaza, Israel in the past has targeted gunmen unless their operations are coordinated. But aid groups say that many of their requests to coordinate the transportation of trucks go unanswered by Israel.
Israel imposed the blockade in early March as hostage-ceasefire talks broke down, accusing Hamas of stealing aid meant for civilians.
“Hamas constantly calls the looters ‘guards’ or protectors’ to mask the fact that they’re disturbing the aid process,” an IDF official told Reuters.
Hamas operatives seen as aid trucks arrive in Rafah, Gaza Strip, January 21, 2025. (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)The UN World Food Program said 15 trucks carrying flour to WFP-supported bakeries had been looted since Monday, which it said reflected the dire conditions facing Gazans.
“Hunger, desperation and anxiety over whether more food aid is coming is contributing to rising insecurity,” it said in a statement.
‘Desperation’
With most of Gaza’s 2 million population squeezed into an ever-narrowing zone on the coast and in the area around the southern city of Khan Younis by Israel’s military operation, international pressure to get aid in quickly has ratcheted up.
“Without rapid, reliable, safe and sustained aid access, more people will die – and the long-term consequences on the entire population will be profound,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, adding that “Palestinians in Gaza are enduring what may be the cruelest phase of this cruel conflict.”
Guterres pointed to the slow rate of aid entering.
“In any case, all the aid authorized until now amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required,” he added in a statement. “Meanwhile, the Israeli military offensive is intensifying with atrocious levels of death and destruction.”
A German government spokesperson said the aid was “far too little, too late, and too slow,” adding that delivery of supplies had to be increased significantly.
Israel has announced that a new system, sponsored by the United States and run by private contractors, will soon begin operations from four distribution centers in the south of Gaza, but many details of how the system will work remain unclear.
The UN has already said it will not work with the new system, which it says will leave aid distribution conditional on Israel’s political and military aims.
Israel says its forces will only provide security for the centers and will not distribute aid themselves.
“I appeal to people of conscience to send us fresh water and food,” Sobhi Ghattas, a displaced Palestinian sheltering at the port in Gaza City, told AFP. “My daughter has been asking for bread since this morning, and we have none to give her.”
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, criticized Israel on Friday, saying that the UN had brought in 500 to 600 trucks per day on average during a six-week ceasefire that broke down in March, about five times higher than current rates.
“No one should be surprised, let alone shocked at scenes of precious aid looted, stolen or ‘lost’,” he wrote on X, adding that “the people of Gaza have been starved” for more than 11 weeks.
Footage published in Arabic media on Friday showed hundreds of Palestinians crowding around a bakery in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp as bread was being distributed for the first time in weeks. video
As the aid has begun to trickle in, the IDF has continued the intensified ground and air operation launched last week, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would end with Israel taking full control of the Gaza Strip.
The military said Friday that it had struck over 75 targets in Gaza over the previous 24 hours, including terror operatives, rocket launchers, buildings used by terror groups, weapon depots, and other infrastructure.
One strike on Thursday night in Gaza City targeted the offices of a currency exchange company, which the IDF said was funding the military wings of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“Al-Cairo” had changed its name from “Dubai” in 2022, after the company was declared by the defense minister to be “aiding terror organizations due to its involvement in transferring funds to such groups,” the military said.
The IDF said the offices were used in recent years to funnel millions of dollars to Hamas and Islamic Jihad for the terror groups’ military activity.
“Throughout the war, the workers of the currency exchange office continued to aid and fund the activity of Hamas terrorists and transferred millions of dollars to operatives of Hamas’s military wing for military activity purposes, thereby enabling the continuation of Hamas’s terror activity,” the IDF said.
In August 2024, the IDF said it killed one of the employees of the company, Tahseen Al-Nadiyya, over his involvement in funding Hamas.
On Friday, Hamas-run Palestinian medical services said at least 25 people had been killed in the strikes. Another Hamas official told AFP that at least 71 people were killed. Neither of the figures could be independently confirmed.
In Gaza’s north, Al-Awda hospital reported Friday that three of its staff were injured “after Israeli quadcopter drones dropped bombs” on the facility.
The Hamas-run civil defense agency later said it had successfully contained a fire at the hospital.
Meanwhile, the military said Friday that ground troops had killed several operatives across Gaza and destroyed other Hamas sites.
Sirens were activated in the Gaza border community of Nir Am on Friday afternoon, with the IDF reporting that one rocket launched from the Strip was intercepted.
Israel resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, ending a ceasefire that began on January 19.
The war broke out on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 53,000 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.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 58 hostages, including 57 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023.
Lebanon will start disarming Palestinian refugee camps in June, official says
Lebanese PM Nawaf Salam, PA President Mahmoud Abbas agree to ‘remove weapons from camps,’ starting with Beirut-area communities, in break with long-standing non-intervention policy
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A man rides a motorbike in a narrow alleyway at the Burj al Barajneh camp for Palestinian refugees in Beirut's southern suburbs on May 20, 2025. (Joseph EID / AFP)The disarmament of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon will begin next month based on an accord with visiting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a Lebanese government official told AFP on Friday.
The Lebanese and Palestinian sides agreed on starting a plan “to remove weapons from the camps, beginning mid-June in the Beirut camps, and other camps will follow,” the source told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media.
By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army stays out of the Palestinian camps — where Abbas’s Fatah movement, the Hamas terror group, and other armed groups are present — and leaves the factions to handle secuity.
Abbas has been in Beirut since Wednesday for talks on disarming the Palestinian refugee camps as Lebanon seeks to impose its authority on all its territory.
The deal came during the first meeting of a joint Lebanese-Palestinian committee announced Wednesday to follow up on the situation in the camps.
The meeting was also attended by Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.
This handout picture released by the Palestinian Authority’s Press Office (PPO) shows President Mahmud Abbas (R) meeting with Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in Beirut on May 22, 2025. (PPO Handout / AFP)
A statement from the committee released by the premier’s office said it agreed to “launch the process of handing over weapons according to a specific timetable, accompanied by practical steps to bolster the economic and social rights of Palestinian refugees.”Lebanon hosts about 222,000 Palestinians who are considered refugees, according to the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, many living in 12 overcrowded official camps.
Most are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their land during the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948. Unlike any other refugees in the world, the UN confers refugee status to all descendants of those displaced by that war, causing their numbers to balloon over time.
They are prohibited by the Lebanese state from working in many professional jobs, have few legal protections, and are not allowed to own property.
A woman walks past a wall poster depicting Abu Obaida, the spokesman for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas terror group, at the Burj al Barajneh camp for Palestinian refugees in Beirut’s southern suburbs on May 20, 2025. (Joseph EID / AFP)Hamas claimed multiple attacks on Israel from Lebanon during more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group, which erupted when the latter terror group began attacking northern Israel a day after the Hamas-led invasion and massacre in the south on October 7, 2023.
The fighting on the northern border was brought to a halt by a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon in late November 2024.
In addition to confiscating Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure in the wake of the ceasefire, the Lebanese army was reported earlier this month to have seized 800 rockets from the Al-Beddawi Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.
Earlier this year, the army also detained a number of Palestinians who were involved in firing rockets in two separate attacks toward Israel in late March.
It’s time for Israel to make peace with Syria
Israel's handling of the new regime smacks of the Cold War, but that no longer makes sense. Instead, Israel can turn an enemy into a partner, step by stepFor decades, Israeli policymakers have claimed that the Palestinians “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” Now it is Israel that risks missing an opportunity.
Syria, under President Ahmad al-Sharaa, has begun signaling a desire to move beyond hostility. Damascus has staked out a tough line against Iran, cracked down on Palestinian Islamic Jihad, distanced itself from anti-Israel escalation, and avoided any serious participation in the war that engulfed the region after October 7th.
Ordinary Syrians, exhausted by years of war, are eager to rebuild. Many also quietly recognize that Israeli airstrikes on Iranian and Hezbollah positions inside Syria contributed to the military successes of opposition forces that toppled the Assad regime in December.
Yet, despite this opening, Israel remains locked in a Cold War-era posture that no longer serves its interests.
There have been serious peace efforts before. In 1949, following the Arab-Israeli War, Syria’s short-lived military leader Husni al-Za’im entered armistice talks with Israel before his abrupt ouster. In 2000, then-Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Syrian foreign minister Farouk al-Sharaa (a relative of Ahmad al-Sharaa) came close to a deal at Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Though the talks collapsed over final details, they showed that peace was within reach.
Other backchannel efforts showed faint signs of promise — until the efforts were derailed by the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011. Now, with a postwar Syria emerging and regional realignments accelerating, another opportunity has emerged.
Despite the hopes of the Israeli leadership, President Donald Trump has made it clear that he is not aligned with Israel on every front. Washington is openly negotiating with Iran and Hamas, and recently entered into a ceasefire with the Houthis — on the same day the Yemeni group launched a missile strike at Israel’s airport.
During his visit to Saudi Arabia, President Trump announced that he would lift sanctions on Syria — despite objections from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his own administration, who had previously spoken out against the move. Trump is also encouraging Damascus to join the Abraham Accords.
Instead of relying solely on an unpredictable White House, Israel should take the initiative and do its part to help shape a more stable regional order.
Israel is not starting from scratch. Its normalization of ties with the United Arab Emirates has already led to productive unofficial talks with Syria on intelligence sharing and counterterrorism.
The groundwork is there to expand this diplomatic architecture. And it can — and should — extend to Syria, particularly through the Arab states that have resumed engagement with Damascus. A regional alignment that includes moderate Sunni powers, pragmatic elements within the Syrian transitional government, and Israeli security interests is a realistic objective, if pursued wisely.
That means pivoting on Syria.
Since Assad’s fall, Israeli airstrikes on abandoned Syrian airfields and aging military installations have done little to improve long-term security. If anything, they fuel anti-Israel sentiment among Syrians who now pose no real threat.
Meanwhile, the IDF’s presence in southern Syria complicates diplomacy. As a goodwill gesture, Israel should pull its forces back to the 1974 UN Disengagement Line — an appeal already made by Sharaa in his meeting with Trump. If Israel wants a stable neighbor, it should engage — not isolate — a united Syria.
Real risks remain. Iran is working to reestablish its influence in Syria. Elements of the former regime continue to mount insurgent attacks. ISIS remains active, with thousands of fighters still in prison camps.
The United States is likely preparing to leave Syria. Three American bases have already shut down, and commercial interests now drive much of Washington’s Syria policy. When US troops finally depart, Iran, Turkey, and Russia will move quickly to fill the vacuum.
Indeed, there has been much fear about Turkey now being on Israel’s “doorstep.” However, Israeli-Turkish ties are on the mend, and Ankara maintains significant leverage with Syria’s new leadership. Israel and Turkey are already engaging on forming a “deconfliction mechanism” in Azerbaijan.
Rather than view Turkish influence on its northern border with alarm, Israel should welcome its mediation. An eventual trilateral understanding between Israel, Turkey, and Syria is not unthinkable.
For over 75 years, Israel and Syria have remained technically at war. Every attempt at peace — from the armistice talks of 1949, to the Madrid Conference, to the Shepherdstown summit in 2000, to Turkish-led backchannels — has failed for different reasons.
Today, a new generation of Syrian leadership offers Israel a rare opportunity to chart a new course. The regional landscape has shifted, and Syria is rapidly moving out of the cold and into the community of nations. If Israel continues to sit on the sidelines, it will miss out on a chance to take part in the future economy of Syria. Trade and cultural exchanges between Israel and Syria would also be an enormous stabilizing force as Syria rebuilds.
The Golan Heights will be one of the most difficult issues to resolve — but even this long-standing dispute is not beyond negotiation. Creative solutions — like demilitarized zones, joint economic ventures, or phased recognition — could offer a way forward without demanding immediate, all-or-nothing concessions.
The tone is already shifting. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar recently stated that Israel seeks “good relations” with Syria — a remarkable departure from the recent hostility. The road to peace will be difficult and incremental, but the region is unmistakably moving toward greater integration and cooperation. Progress will not come overnight, but dialogue and trust can be built, step by step.
This is the moment for Israel to move with the pace of modern diplomacy — and to turn an old enemy into a new partner.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Christopher Solomon is the author of 'In Search of Greater Syria: The History and Politics of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.' Originally from Pittsburgh, he now lives in the Washington, DC, area. He holds an M.A. in International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA).- IDF kills 6 gunmen guarding trucks amid looting as humanitarian aid trickles into Gaza
UN chief says Palestinians entering ‘cruelest phase of war’; footage on social media shows crowd of Gazans surrounding bakery
Former Israeli Air Force chief Nimrod Sheffer joins Golan’s Democrats party
Brig. Gen Nimrod Sheffer, chief of the Israel Defense Forces Planning Directorate, speaks at the Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference, held at David Citadel hotel in Jerusalem on December 11, 2014. (Miriam Alster /Flash90)Former Israeli Air Force Chief Nimrod Sheffer announced yesterday that he has decided to join Yair Golan’s left-wing The Democrats party.
“I am joining The Democrats today because it is a party with a backbone and public courage. The party that is leading the most determined struggle against the government and offers a path and real hope for Israel,” Sheffer said in a video announcement.
“Yesterday I heard the prime minister — a corrupt, failed man, who brought upon Israel the worst disaster in its history — declare that he does not accept the High Court of Justice ruling,” he said, referring to the decision that found Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to have been “unlawful” and that barred the premier from involvement in selecting Bar’s successor.
In a dramatic denouement of a bitter fight between the government and the judiciary, the High Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday that the cabinet’s decision to fire Bar was made “improperly,” “unlawfully,” and while Netanyahu had a conflict of interest due to the ongoing Shin Bet investigations into his close aides.
“I heard how the man who built Hamas and is unable to defeat it, incites against an IDF general who demonstrated courage in battle and continues to demonstrate a Zionist and moral backbone in politics. I understood that we must turn the protest into a political struggle,” Sheffer said, referring to Netanyahu’s criticism of Golan, who said Israel’s government was killing babies in Gaza “as a hobby.”
In addition to heading the air force, Sheffer held senior positions in the IDF’s General Staff and was CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries.
Earlier this week, Sheffer posted another video defending Golan, characterizing as “brave and worthy of this moment” the interview The Democrats chief gave to the Kan public broadcaster during which he said, “Israel is on the way to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa was, if we don’t return to acting like a sane country… A sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations.”
“The IDF is killing a lot of people in this war. When there is a larger goal and it is required, then it is part of the price of war, as hard and sad as that is,” Sheffer said.
“But when a black flag flies above this war and it doesn’t have aims that are possible to achieve, the price of the deaths of just so many innocent civilians — among them thousands of children — is simply an unacceptable one that we must not be willing to pay,” he added, while noting that Golan shouldn’t have used the word “hobby” and was sure he hadn’t meant to.PM’s pick for Shin Bet chief said to have told colleagues he’s against hostage deals
Hostage families forum say if reported remarks by Zini confirmed, ‘these are horrifying and contemptible words coming from someone who is set to determine the fate of the hostages
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s designated Shin Bet chief has reportedly expressed opposition to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, sparking outrage among families of Hamas-held captives.
Channel 12 reported Friday night that Maj. Gen. David Zini, whose appointment Netanyahu announced Thursday in defiance of the attorney general, had reportedly said to colleagues in the military: “I’m against hostage deals. This is an eternal war.” The network also reported that Netanyahu selected Zini after a brief, impromptu conversation that went behind the back of IDF chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.
It was unclear from the report when in the war Zini made the comment, whether he had since repeated it, or if the remarks were quoted verbatim. The report said he had made the statement “in closed sessions of the IDF General Staff,” but did not provide a time frame for those sessions. The report also said Zini’s comment had “echoed in the room already then,” suggesting the quote was from a single meeting.
Sources cited by Channel 12 said that Zini’s comment, while striking, carried only minor weight at the time he made it, as the Gaza truce-hostage talks bore little relevance to his role as head of IDF Training Command and General Staff Corps. As Shin Bet chief, however, Zini would be heavily involved in negotiations and in deliberating whether to make a deal, the sources said.
The IDF spokesperson declined to comment on the report, saying it would not address things said in meetings of the General Staff. Zini, a member of the observant national religious community, is unlikely to comment on the report until after the Jewish Sabbath ends Saturday night.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum wrote on X that families were “outraged” by Zini’s reported comment. “If the report is correct, then these are horrifying and contemptible words coming from someone who is set to determine the fate of the hostages,” the forum said.
Using a Hebrew pun to make Zini’s name profane, Natali Zangauker, sister of hostage Matan Zangauker, said she is “ashamed” of the general’s words.
“I’m not counting on you to bring back my brother and the rest of the hostages,” she wrote. “Not counting on you to protect the lives of our soldiers who are going in to secure conditions for the blood prime minister to make a deal and end the war.”
Einav Zangauker, center-left, and Natali Zangauker, center-right, the mother and sister of hostage Matan Zangauker, protest for a truce-hostage deal on Tel Aviv’s Begin Street, outside the IDF headquarters, on September 5, 2024. (Jack Guez/AFP)Netanyahu announced Zini’s appointment on Thursday, a day after the High Court ruled that the premier could not fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, who has in any case announced he would resign next month over his failure to prevent the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023.
The High Court found that Netanyahu, who brought Bar’s ouster to a government vote in March amid public backlash, acted in conflict of interest, given ongoing Shin Bet probes of the alleged ties between the premier’s top aides and Hamas-backer Qatar.
On Friday, Netanyahu’s office said Zini would not handle matters related to the Qatar investigation. Meanwhile, Zini was on Friday relieved of his post, with the military saying in the afternoon that he had agreed to resign after an earlier statement indicated Zamir had ousted Zini.
According to Channel 12, Netanyahu held just one brief conversation with Zini before appointing him to be the next Shin Bet chief. The conversation was said to have taken place on May 8, during a visit Netanyahu made to the Tzeelim military base where an IDF exercise was taking place.
At the end of the drill, Netanyahu reportedly pulled Zini aside for a brief walk during which they discussed the issue of Haredi enlistment, since Zini is one of the IDF’s point people on the issue.
Netanyahu then told Zini to come inside his car, where they chatted for five minutes before the premier asked how the general would feel about becoming Shin Bet chief, Channel 12 said.
Zini responded that he’d prefer remaining a major general in the army but that if Netanyahu was going to insist, he’d agree to head the Shin Bet, according to the network.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) and IDF Maj. Gen. David Zini at the Tzeelim training base in southern Israel, May 8, 2025. (GPO)That night, Zini updated Zamir’s aide that he had had a conversation with Netanyahu, without elaborating on what was said, the network reported. Zini reportedly called Zamir three days later, and noted that Netanyahu, during the conversation, brought up the idea of him serving as Shin Bet chief. However, Zini did not lead Zamir to think that it was a serious offer, according to Channel 12.
Still, Zamir criticized Zini for speaking with the political leadership without authorization, as is required.
Almost two weeks passed, and Zamir received a call from Netanyahu on Thursday evening during which the premier informed him that he had decided to appoint Zini as the next Shin Bet chief.
Zamir expressed his concern about Zini’s qualifications, given that Zini does not come from the Shin Bet or intelligence community, and also about how the appointment was made, Channel 12 reported.
Zamir then called Zini and raised those concerns directly as well. The two agreed to meet Friday morning, when Zamir told Zini he would not be able to remain in the IDF as long as the appointment stands, while leaving open the door to a return if it does not move forward.
Channel 12 said Zini told Zamir that he did not have any conversations with Netanyahu about being appointed Shin Bet chief other than the brief discussion in the premier’s car.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir visits the Gaza Strip, May 20, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)Zini is slated to replace current Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar next month, unless the High Court of Justice intervenes.
Also Friday, National Unity MK and former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot urged Zini to turn down the appointment.
In an open letter to Zini, Eisenkot said he was put in a similar situation in 2011 when Netanyahu offered him to become the next IDF chief. Eisenkot turned the premier down because he wasn’t a deputy chief of staff at the time and he wanted to wait until he was more senior. Eisenkot was appointed to the position in 2015.
Eisenkot went on to sharply criticize Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war in Gaza, saying that the prime minister has undermined the war aim of returning the hostages and the achievements made on the battlefield “by waging a continuous, unfocused war, with outdated goals.”
“Zini, I commanded you for most of your military service. I appreciate your operational capabilities and your courage,” Eisenkot wrote. “I know that you have the wisdom to choose the right thing to do.”
National Unity MK Gadi Eisenkot attends a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on March 10, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)Eisenkot called on Zini do what’s right “for the State of Israel, even at a personal cost” and suggested that he “inform the prime minister that the right thing to do at this time is to wait for the attorney general’s interpretation of the High Court ruling and then allow the selection of a more experienced candidate for wartime.”
According to Eisenkot, the appointment of the head of the Shin Bet should be done “in a manner that creates broad national consensus,” especially during this period of war, one of the “longest and most difficult in Israel’s history.” Link
The Region and the WorldBono: ‘Hamas, release the hostages, stop the war. Israel, be released from Netanyahu’
As U2 receives award, frontman praises aid workers as ‘the best of us,’ calls for ‘Israel to be released from far-right fundamentalists that twist your sacred
Bono poses for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Bono: Stories of Surrender' at the 78th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, on May 17, 2025. (Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)U2 frontman Bono called on Thursday for Israel to be “released” from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies, as well as for the release of the hostages and an end to the war in Gaza, as he accepted an award in London.
The rock star and activist, speaking at the Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting, made the comments to introduce a performance of “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” the Irish band’s 1983 anthem inspired by the violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
“I used to introduce this next song by saying it was not a rebel song,” he said as the band was honored, according to the NME. “It was, because believing in the possibilities of peace was then, and is now, a rebellious act.”
“Peace creates possibilities in the most intractable situations,” Bono continued. “Lord knows, there’s a few of them out there right now.”
“Hamas release the hostages. Stop the war. Israel, be released from Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right fundamentalists that twist your sacred texts,” he said.
“All of you protect our aid workers, they are the best of us,” he added. “God, you must be so tired of us, children of Abraham, in the rubble of our certainties. Children in the rubble of our revenge. God forgive us.”
- Personal Stories
Minister of Defense, are you with us?
There are still 58 hostages in Gaza, among them 23 young people, alive, starving, decaying in tunnels in subhuman conditions. Soldiers are risking their lives because Bibi does not want to end Smotrich’s war, the army is stretched to the limit, and you’re telling that you instructed not to call Yair Golan up for reserve duty because the things he said grated on your sensitive ears. This is what you are dealing with?
What did you do on October 7th when Yair Golan put on a uniform and went into the inferno in the Gaza envelope communities to save lives and fight the Nukhba with the flip-flops? What did the Prime Minister, whom you are trying to please and come off pathetic and low, do on October 7th? He dozed, applied makeup, and convened the Topaz-Urich commando unit to throw off the responsibility from him and onward.
A year and a half after the war, the Prime Minister of October 7th finally convenes a press conference and what comes out of his mouth is mainly disdain for the fighters who were killed facing “the Nukhba with the flip-flops.” In between, he tries to sell the public a new name for the old war so that the stupid public will count the dead from the beginning. As if, as of today, there are only two fatalities in Gideon’s Chariots / Iron Swords. He does not even remember the name he invented. Well, the public is not stupid. There is only one war and it has lasted one year and seven months since October 7th, 2023. That is the date that will be recorded next to the name of Benjamin Netanyahu for eternal disgrace. And the Nukhba, by the way, entered and passed easily over the obstacle he prides himself on building, and dived and came ashore through the naval barrier he built. The Nukhba with the flip-flops and the fins killed on that cursed day 1,163 human beings. Children, women, men, soldiers and female soldiers.
Yair Golan risked his life on that day like soldiers, civilians, and members of standby squads in all the communities who risked their lives on that cursed day. And where were you? In the shelter of your home? Or in the shelter in the Kirya? Netanyahu, who had been prime minister for 17 years until October 7th, was that morning surrounded by a retinue of bodyguards, did not really function, and when he came to, chose to throw off responsibility and dig in to the position at any cost.
And since then he’s been hopping from lie to lie, engineering reality according to his needs, abandoning the hostages in Gaza, endangering IDF soldiers to survive politically, dismantling the institutions of the state and tearing Israeli society apart. But the main thing is that we have a brave Minister of Defense who ejects Yair Golan from the reserves and under the table ejects tens of thousands of Haredi youth from regular service. Congratulations.
Tami Arad - wife of the missing Navigator Ron Arad - May 23, 2025
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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