๐️Lonny's War Update- October 695, 2023 - August 31, 2025 ๐️
๐️Day 695 that 48 of our hostages are still in Hamas captivity๐️
His father of Idan Shtivi: he was murdered in Gaza and not in Nova, after he fought terrorists and saved partygoers
The kidnapped fallen whose body was returned in the operation came to the party in Re’im to film his friends who played and gave workshops. When the attack began he helped two partygoers he did not know escape, but terrorists shot at the vehicle in which they drove and he was kidnapped: “he was strong, a fighter in a special unit. They shot him like cowards.” The families’ headquarters: “the complex identification process – reminder of the danger of disappearance”Idan Shtivi, of blessed memory, who was murdered at the Nova Festival on October 7 and kidnapped to the Gaza Strip, was returned to Israel in an operation of the IDF and the Shin Bet alongside Ilan Weiss, of blessed memory. On the morning of the massacre Shtivi came to the site of the festival to film his friends who played and gave workshops, but did not succeed to enter the compound. When the attack began he helped a man and woman whom he met for the first time at that moment escape the place, but Hamas terrorists shot at the vehicle in which he drove, the two were murdered – and he was kidnapped. “No one was there to save him,” said painfully his brother Omri.
For a year the assessment was that he was kidnapped alive.
Idan Shtivi, of blessed memory, and his partner Stav
Idan left behind his parents Eli and Dalit, three brothers and his partner Stav. The family and friends told that he loved nature, photography and animals – mainly dogs – and was supposed to begin in October 2023 his second year in studies of sustainability and government at Reichman University.
This morning the father Eli told on radio Kol Barama: “Yesterday they told us that he was not murdered in our territory, but he fought terrorists – these monsters. He was a fighter, a strong guy. Today it can be said that he was a fighter in a special unit. He was strong physically and mentally and did not give them, until they shot him in the back like cowards – and then took him into Gaza. There they murdered him, abused him and buried him.”
The father emphasized, although the notice about the murder of the son he already received long ago: “I believed he was alive. This also out of choice to keep sanity, and also to believe. I prayed to God every morning, laid Tefillin, in faith that Idan will return healthy and whole and smiling. God did not answer me to the prayers, but I understood that they did not go in vain. They went straight to the hostages and to the other people who suffer.”
Yesterday the father told ynet that he refused to sit shiva for his son. He also spoke about the moment when he received the notice about his return: “I flew to a delegation to speak about Idan, I landed and immediately boarded a flight back after they notified me about his return. They took me back on that plane, they said there are findings from parts of the body of Idan. That it is certain. I had hope that he will return alive, yesterday morning still I prayed that he is alive.”
Idan Shtivi, Loved animals, and especially dogs. Idan, of blessed memory
Until October 6 last year, a year after the massacre, the assessment was that Shtivi was kidnapped alive. On that day his family was given notice that Idan was murdered. The decision was based on intelligence information, and approved by a committee of experts of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Religions and the police.
From the headquarters of the families of the hostages was conveyed last night that “the return of Idan, of blessed memory, for worthy burial in Israel is closure of a circle and fulfillment of the basic duty of the State of Israel to its citizens. Our heart today is with the Shtivi family. Alongside the sorrow and pain, his return provides some closure for the family, and relief after 694 days of nerve-racking waiting until his return. We wish to express our deep gratitude to the IDF and the security forces who acted and act with dedication and courage, and brought about the return of Idan. We also thank the various professional bodies who took part in the identification process.”
In the headquarters of the families of the hostages they emphasized: “the complex identification process constitutes a hard and painful reminder of the real danger of disappearance of the fallen under the ruins of Gaza. The return of hostages is the key to achieving Israeli victory, it is the only way to healing and national revival. The people of Israel want to see all the hostages at home, some for rescue and rehabilitation and some for worthy burial, in a comprehensive agreement.”
The story of the heroism of Idan – and the hunger strike of his father
At a memorial event on Holocaust Day in May Omri, the brother of Idan, told that he is “a grandson to Holocaust survivors on both sides.” In his words, “I am sure they are proud to see me here now, but they turn in their graves from the situation we are going through here. My grandmother wrote at the end of her days a book, and in its opening she wrote that she hopes that everyone who will read it will draw inspiration and optimism. That the book exalts the power of survival. I feel that we are inside the Holocaust of October. I am sure that everyone who saw the pictures from that Saturday cannot call it by another name. Until today I do not believe that my brother was there.”“Idan went to dance and since then did not return,” added then the brother Omri. “On that Saturday Idan acted with courage and helped people he did not know, who were not fit to drive, instead of returning with the friends with whom he came to the party. With that vehicle they were encountered after a short drive. In the pictures we saw they stand in front of 14 terrorists who shoot them from the front.” He added: “Idan went out from the vehicle running, the terrorists killed the two people he tried to save. He was wounded and hid for an hour and a half under a tree. Sadly no one came to rescue him, and from there he was kidnapped to Gaza by Hamas terrorists, and we did not see him until today.”
The statement of the families of the hostages after their meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Idan Shtivi, “Went to dance and did not return, acted with courage and helped people he did not know.” Idan, of blessed memory
“Yesterday morning still I prayed that he is alive.” Eli Shtivi (photo: Shalev Shalom)
“Need to give up the just action in favor of the moral action.” The brother Omri (photo: Yair Shagai)Omri told that they “pray for his return and are since in a continuous nightmare. This reminds me of the stories of my grandmother from the Holocaust. She wrote in the book that her father was one of those who did not give up even when they were exposed to ongoing abuse by the Nazi army. She told that one day soldiers came to their house and tried to kidnap her brother, and her father confronted them and prevented it.
“In contrast,” he continued, “no one was there on October 7 to save Idan. I am sure that he believed that in another moment they come to rescue him. I am sure of it. And this connects me to the day we are in today. We are conducting the most moral struggle that can be done. In order to win we need to give up the just action in favor of the moral action.”
In January last year, 105 days after Idan Shtivi was kidnapped to Gaza from the party in Re’im, his father, Eli, began a hunger strike in front of the house of the Prime Minister in Caesarea. “I will hunger strike until Netanyahu comes out to me,” he said. The determined image of the father became familiar, but the half-sister of Idan and daughter of Eli told in April last year that their father is fading before her eyes.
“Dad is very strong and has a lot of hope, but I feel that not always everyone understands what the situation does to families. It is a domino effect that affects everything,” she said in an interview in April last year. “So many things change. For example, my father I do not see at all since Idan is not here, the grandchildren do not see him. Once he would come to me all the time, play with them, but now even when he is with us he is not always there, he is in thoughts about Idan or in the schedule of interviews and meetings. I miss him, he is the most amazing grandpa and dad in the world.”
Ilan Weiss, of blessed memory, and his dog Ketem
Ilan was rescued together with Idan in a special operation of the IDF and Shin BetThe notice about the return of Idan yesterday, following the notice about the return of Ilan Weiss, of blessed memory, was delivered by Prime Minister Netanyahu. In the notice from him was written that “in the special operation carried out by the IDF and Shin Bet in the Gaza Strip the body of Idan Shtivi, of blessed memory, was returned. After completion of the identification process at the Institute of Forensic Medicine this evening it was permitted to publish the matter of his return to the homeland. Idan was a talented student of sustainability and government and a brave-hearted person.”
The President of the State Isaac Herzog eulogized: “I hope that the rescue of his body and the bringing of Idan to worthy burial will bring some comfort to his dear parents Eli and Dalit and to his brothers, who along the way in our meetings and conversations displayed strengths in the persistent struggle for his return. May his memory be blessed. We will not rest and will not be still until our brothers return from the hell in Gaza. All. Until the last of them!”
From the office of the Prime Minister was conveyed afterwards that “Netanyahu spoke at length with the families of the fallen hostages Idan Shtivi, of blessed memory, and Ilan Weiss, of blessed memory, whose bodies were returned to the homeland in an operation of the IDF and Shin Bet in the Gaza Strip. The Prime Minister shared in the grief of the families, praised the courage of Ilan, of blessed memory, and of Idan, of blessed memory, who acted on October 7 to save lives and said that thanks to the heroism of our fighters we succeeded to return their loved ones to the grave of Israel.” It was also conveyed that Netanyahu said that “we act without rest to return all the hostages, the living and the fallen alike.” link
‘How do you explain to a little girl why her uncle isn’t coming back?’ Brother of hostage Avinatan Or pleads for his return
Moshe Or, the brother of Hamas-held hostage Avinatan Or, tells a thousands-strong crowd rallying for a hostage-ceasefire deal in Tel Aviv that “what we haven’t achieved in two years of war, we most likely won’t achieve in years to come.”
“But for the hostages, they have something to lose every day, every night. Their lives, their health, their soul,” he adds. “Every moment of hesitation costs them, and us, an unbearably heavy price.”
He demands that the government negotiate a deal to release all the hostages in one fell swoop.
“We need a deal already, and that deal must be one deal with everyone together. Not the Witkoff outline, not in waves — everyone, together,” he declares.
He says that the last time he saw his brother was on his daughter’s third birthday, nearly two years ago. She is now almost five years old.
“How do you explain to a little girl why her uncle isn’t coming back? He is alive but not here. Why does he not visit her?” he says.
“Amid all of this, the public agenda is occupied with other things. The government is dealing with flight plans to Uman and other nonsense,” he says, referring to the yearly Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage made by many Hasidic Jews to the Ukrainian city.
“How is it possible that the beating heart of this nation, our hostages, is not at the top of the priority list?”
Plight of hostages shows Israel’s ‘failure as a state,’ says brother of hostage mistakenly killed by IDF
Tuval Haim, the brother of slain hostage Yotam Haim, who was mistakenly killed by IDF troops in Gaza in December 2023, tells a crowd of thousands at Hostages Square that the continued suffering of the hostages in captivity attests to “our failure as a state.”
“How can it be that ministers take pride in thwarting deals, while hostages are being murdered in tunnels?” he asks. “How can it be that the individual who shot Yotam didn’t even receive a photo of him and didn’t know what he looked like?”
He says that it was only after IDF troops accidentally shot his brother, alongside two other hostages, Alon Shamriz and Samar Talalka, that the IDF chief of staff began to distribute photos of the hostages to soldiers in Gaza.
“They promised us that Yotam would come back, they said they knew where he was, they said he was on his way home,” he says, teary-eyed. “Today I feel like they lied to us, that they didn’t actually give every effort then and still today. They told us he was the first priority, but they actually had different goals.”
“Today is my birthday, the second birthday that I don’t get a hug and a blessing from Yotam,” he laments. “What I wish for myself is that no one will ever have to go through what I went through, that they will get their siblings back so that they can sing with them.”
‘A wild gamble on hostages’ lives’: Defense chiefs to urge cabinet to eschew Gaza op, take deal
Channel 12 says top brass to press ministers not to launch Gaza City offensive, seriously weigh ceasefire; ‘There is a deal on the table that Israel fought for,’ senior source says
Israeli defense chiefs will present an all-but united front to the security cabinet on Sunday, beseeching ministers to accept the current proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza over the government’s desired offensive in Gaza City, Channel 12 reported Friday.
Those urging the deal over the expanded Gaza operation include IDF chief Eyal Zamir, Mossad Director David Barnea and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, the report said. A notable exception is the acting chief of the Shin Bet, identified only by the initial “Shin” for security reasons. His exact stance was not detailed.
Security chiefs will also question why Israel has not held a cabinet meeting to at least seriously consider the latest offer on the table — an offer broadly similar to the proposal Jerusalem had itself recently approved.
The phased proposal crafted by Arab mediators that Hamas approved on August 18 envisions the release of 10 hostages along with the bodies of 18 slain captives in five batches over a 60-day ceasefire, during which the sides will hold talks on the terms of the release of the remaining hostages and a permanent end to the war.
The proposal is nearly identical to one crafted by US special envoy Steve Witkoff, which Israel approved only last month, before Hamas added new demands in late July that led to the collapse of talks, Arab diplomats told The Times of Israel. The Arab mediators subsequently managed to bring Hamas down from those new demands, but Israel in the meantime has said it is no longer interested in a phased deal.
“There is a deal on the table that Israel fought for. We must grasp the opportunity to bring hostages back alive and to use the ceasefire to reach an end to the fighting,” a senior security source told the network. “Any other decision, based on the thought that Hamas will surrender if we enter Gaza [City], is a wild gamble on the lives of hostages and soldiers.”
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir speaks at a handover ceremony for the head of the Military Colleges at the Glilot base, August 14, 2025. (Israel Defense Forces)The unnamed official added that multiple living hostages could have returned last week and been home safe by now had Israel accepted the deal as it had in the past.
Hamas warned Israel on Friday that the planned offensive to conquer Gaza City will subject hostages in the area to the “same risks” as the terror group’s fighters.
“We will take care of the prisoners the best we can, and they will be with our fighters in the combat and confrontation zones, subjected to the same risks and the same living conditions,” Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing, said in a statement.
Zamir was previously reported to tell the government that it must accept the proposal that’s currently on offer, warning that “there is great danger to the lives of the hostages in taking over Gaza City.”
Since Hamas’s initial refusal of the offer in July, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reversed course, saying he will no longer accept a phased or partial agreement, and will only negotiate for the release of all hostages together and an end to the war on Israeli terms. According to Netanyahu, the war must end with Hamas’s disarmament, the Strip’s demilitarization, and a new civilian government in the territory that is neither the terror group nor the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.
Mossad chief David Barnea attends a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem on April 23, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)Retired generals, opposition lawmakers and citizens in support of a hostage deal have all warned publicly that Hamas guards could murder captives if Israeli troops draw near, as the terror group has done to other hostages in the past. Family members of slain hostages whose bodies are held in the Strip have also warned that a Gaza City takeover could prevent the retrieval of their loved ones’ remains.
The military, however, has started active preparations for the new offensive. Thousands of reservists have been called up for the operation and are expected to report for duty from September 2, with the maneuver to begin in the following weeks.
Jerusalem is moving forward with the plan despite broad international opposition — with the exception of the US — as well as anger at home among many citizens who feel the move poses an unjustified risk to the remaining hostages, as well as to soldiers.
A poll aired by Channel 12 Friday showed that 60% of Israelis say the next step in the war should be to secure a hostage deal, compared to 31% of respondents who say Israel should first move ahead with plans to take Gaza City.
Sixty-five percent of respondents said the most important war aim was returning the hostages, compared to 27% who said it was destroying Hamas.
Protesters gather at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square for a rally calling for a deal securing the release of hostages held in Gaza on August 26, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)Friday saw security forces return the body of slain hostage Ilan Weiss in an operation in Gaza. His body was recovered along with the remains of a second hostage, whose name was not immediately published as the identification process was still ongoing at the Abu Kabir National Institute of Forensic Medicine.
Weiss, 56, was killed on the morning of October 7, 2023, while defending Kibbutz Be’eri from Hamas-led terrorists as a member of the emergency response team.
His wife Shiri and daughter Noga were also taken hostage and later freed during a weeklong truce and hostage release deal in November 2023. Noga was drafted into the IDF in May 2024.
Ilan Weiss, who was murdered by Hamas in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023 and his body taken to Gaza, in an undated photo. (Courtesy/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)The IDF said the complex recovery mission in Gaza was carried out by Southern Command forces with intelligence provided by the Military Intelligence Directorate, the Shin Bet, and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“This is an ongoing, principled effort that we will continue to pursue,” Zamir said Friday regarding the military’s efforts to return the captives. “We will not rest or remain silent until all our hostages are returned by any means possible.”
The Forum mourned Weiss as “a loving and devoted family man, [who] excelled at cooking and loved to barbecue.” The group added in its statement: “The hostages are running out of time. We must return all of them home, now!”
According to official figures, 48 hostages now remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced that the weekly Saturday night protest at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv will this week mark a year since the murder of six hostages in a tunnel in Rafah.
“The advancement of the plan to conquer Gaza City, while a deal for the return of the hostages is on the negotiating table and is not discussed by the security cabinet, is a bloody reminder of the events of the last year. Military pressure kills hostages,” the Forum said in a statement.
IDF troops from the 7th Armored Brigade operate in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, August 28, 2025 (Lazar Berman/The Times of Israel)“Enough of this continuing nightmare. Forty-two of our brothers and sisters were abducted alive and murdered in captivity — we must not reach 43.”
Protests have swelled in recent weeks after the government approved plans to take over Gaza City. Link
‘Military pressure kills hostages’: Rallies to mark year since Hamas killed 6 in tunnel
Anti-government protest folding into main Hostages Square demonstrations; ex-hostage thanks troops for bringing father’s body from Gaza
Large crowds were expected to take to the streets on Saturday evening, demanding the government reach a ceasefire deal for the release of the 48 remaining hostages in Gaza, a day after security services announced they had recovered the bodies of two captives from the Strip.
The main weekly rally was set to take place at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square. Organizers highlighted the one-year anniversary of the murder of six hostages by their Hamas captors as Israeli troops neared, and said it should serve as a reminder of the dangers of military pressure amid the widening offensive in the Strip.
“As plans move forward to conquer Gaza City, a hostage deal remains stalled at the negotiating table – serving as a painful reminder of last year’s lesson: military pressure kills hostages,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement, referencing the killing of Alexander Lobanov, Carmel Gat, Ori Danino, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi and Almog Sarusi by their Hamas captors last year
“This nightmare must end! For 692 days, our loved ones have endured hell, and we as a nation have lost all sense of direction,” the forum said.
“Escalating military pressure means abandoning the living hostages to their fate and leaving the bodies of those already dead buried forever in Gaza’s rubble,” the forum said.
Hamas warned Israel on Friday that the planned offensive to conquer Gaza City would subject hostages in the area to the “same risks” as the terror group’s fighters.
This combination of six undated photos shows hostages, from top left, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi; from bottom left, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Carmel Gat. They were murdered by their Hamas captors in Gaza in August 2024. (The Hostages Families Forum via AP)
Speakers at the Saturday night rally were include Gil Dickmann, the cousin of Carmel Gat; Noam Idan Ben Ezra, the sister of Tsachi Idan; Tuval Haim, the brother of Yotam Haim; Roy and Alon Chen, the brothers of Itay Chen; Moshe Or, the brother of Avinatan Or.
Saturday’s protest comes on the heels of Tuesday’s day of action, the second in two weeks, after a major protest earlier this month drew crowds of over one million, according to the forum, with some 500,000 in Tel Aviv alone.
“Go to junctions near your homes, to Hostages Square, and to every protest location where they’re fighting for my Matan and the other 49 hostages,” wrote protest leader Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held hostage in Gaza.
“I want to thank the amazing public who have joined us and supported me and the other families. Only the nation will return the hostages.”
Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker attends a protest outside the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem, calling for a deal with the Hamas terror group to secure the release of the captives, August 22, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)Zangauker had led the protests on Begin Road, which — unlike the demonstrations at nearby Hostages Square — were explicitly anti-government and organized in part by anti-government protest groups.
Meanwhile, former hostage Noga Weiss, the daughter of slain captive Ilan Weiss, whose body was recovered from Gaza on Friday, thanked security forces on Saturday and called for the remaining captives to be freed in a deal.
Forces from the military and Shin Bet security service recovered Weiss’s body along with the remains of a second hostage, whose name was not immediately published as the identification process was still ongoing at the Abu Kabir National Institute of Forensic Medicine.
Noga Weiss holds a placard showing her hostage father Ilan Weiss at a demonstration urging the release of the hostages held by Hamas. (Paulina Patimer / Hostages Families Forum)“We want to say a huge thank you in the name of the whole family to the security forces who brought back our father after 692 days,” Noga Weiss said in a post on social media.
“We hope and pray that all the hostages will be returned in one deal that will not endanger the security forces or the hostages today,” she wrote.
Ilan Weiss, 56, was killed on the morning of October 7, 2023, while defending Kibbutz Be’eri from Hamas-led terrorists as a member of the emergency response team. His wife, Shiri, and Noga were also taken hostage and later freed during a weeklong truce and hostage release deal in November 2023.
Ilan Weiss, who was murdered by Hamas in Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023 and his body taken to Gaza, in an undated photo. (Courtesy/Hostages and Missing Families Forum)Saturday’s protest comes as Channel 12 reported that Israeli defense chiefs were set to present an all-but united front to the security cabinet on Sunday, beseeching ministers to accept the current proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza over the government’s desired offensive in Gaza City.
Those urging the deal over the expanded Gaza operation include IDF chief Eyal Zamir, Mossad Director David Barnea and National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, the report said. A notable exception is the acting chief of the Shin Bet, identified only by the initial “Shin” for security reasons. His exact stance was not detailed.
Security chiefs will also question why Israel has not held a cabinet meeting to at least seriously consider the latest offer on the table — an offer broadly similar to the proposal Jerusalem had itself recently approved.
Retired generals, opposition lawmakers and citizens in support of a hostage deal have all warned publicly that Hamas guards could murder captives if Israeli troops draw near, as the terror group has done to other hostages in the past. Family members of slain hostages whose bodies are held in the Strip have also warned that a Gaza City takeover could prevent the retrieval of their loved ones’ remains.
Displaced Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza Strip move with their belongings on a street in Gaza City, Aug. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)The military, however, has started active preparations for the new offensive. Thousands of reservists have been called up for the operation and are expected to report for duty from September 2, with the maneuver to begin in the following weeks.
- Israel discussed deal since Hamas response?'The father of hostage Nimrod Cohen, Yehuda, stated during the hostage families' declaration at Begin Gate in Tel Aviv that "Hamas is interested in a deal. More than a week ago, they agreed to Wittgenstein's terms, and only Netanyahu refuses to send a negotiating team and sign a deal. Why hasn't Israel yet discussed the proposal since Hamas's response? There is one person standing against the will and interest of the people - his name is Benjamin Netanyahu, and he is afraid of two things: the extremists in his government and public pressure."Father of hostage Eitan Horn: 'Cabinet is a group of disturbed individuals unworthy of leading us'The father of hostage Eitan Horn, Itzik, said in a statement by the families at Begin Gate in Tel Aviv that "While my son fights for his life in captivity and an entire country is fighting to get him out of there, the government intends to conquer Gaza and gamble with his life and the lives of the living hostages, to forever conceal the deceased and also gamble with our heroic soldiers. Sitting in the government and cabinet is a group of disturbed individuals that every citizen in Israel needs to question whether these people are worthy of making decisions about their fate. It's not just a matter for the families of hostages and soldiers, it's a matter for the entire nation. They don't want to bring them back and are unworthy of leading us."Einav Tzangauker: 'If Matan returns in a bag - I will make sure Netanyahu is charged with murder'In a statement at the Begin Gate near the Kirya in Tel Aviv, Einav Tzangauker, whose son Matan is being held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, said that "according to a senior security official, my Matan could have been home already last week. The Israeli government and its leader put a partial deal framework on the table and decided to thwart it at the last moment a month ago. Each time we face a new false spin from Netanyahu." She addressed the Prime Minister: "Netanyahu, if Matan returns in a bag, not only will Matan and I pay the price - I will personally ensure that you are charged with premeditated murder."
High schoolers burn desks on key highway in demand for hostage deal; police detain around 20
Police detain around 20 high school protesters who set fire to desks on Tel Aviv’s Ayalon Highway during a demonstration for a hostage-ceasefire deal.
A 17-year-old was taken to the police station for questioning and a 35-year-old was arrested, police say. Gonen Ben-Yitzhak, a lawyer, disputes the police version, and says both were arrested.
The other teenagers were detained at the scene and went free after giving their details to police, says Ben-Yitzhak.
The protest comes one day before the start of the academic year. Dozens of teenaged activists blocked the key thoroughfare and set fire to several desks while demanding a general strike.
Demonstrators held a banner reading: “We will not learn to live with this. Strike now.”
“We are not willing to learn to live in a world in which the hostages are murdered in Hamas tunnels and the Israeli government does not even bother to discuss the deal on the table, and therefore we will not allow the school year to begin as usual,” the students say in a statement.
“Today we are high school students, but in a year or two we will all be in [military] uniform,” the teens say. “We want, and need, to know that when we go to the front, our country will stand behind us and uphold the moral and ethical contract on which we were educated.”
Students at dozens of high schools across the country are expected to strike tomorrow in a demand for a hostage deal and an end to the war.
Israeli officials say only 10,000 out of 1 million have evacuated from northern Gaza
Israeli security officials tell Channel 12 that the evacuation of Gaza City ahead of the planned IDF offensive is going much slower than anticipated.
The official says that Israel estimates that only some 10,000 people have evacuated to the south in the three weeks since Israel announced it would empty the city of its civilian population ahead of a planned move by the IDF to capture Gaza City.
The official says that there are some 1 million people still in the area. Link. The government, against the advice of the heads of the security organizations has decided to go ahead with the terrible plan to occupy Gaza City through a full scale military operation. That means almost total destruction of Gaza City as has been done throughout the Strip. In order to accomplish such a massive and destructive undertaking, they need to evacuate as many of the 1 million people currently residing in Gaza City now and that is becoming a much more daunting task then they envisaged. Up until now, the IDF has move huge numbers of the Gaza population several times into different areas of the Strip in order to mass a military operation which literally destroys most of the structures and infrastructure. People who have stayed behind and didn't adhere to the evacuation orders were at high risk for being killed by aerial bombs or by infantry fighting in the area. In addition, they were cut off from humanitarian aid and any medical services that are barely available. The government and IDF considered any of these casualties as being their own fault and were not very worried about it because most of the population under evacuation orders did in fact evacuate.
Here in Gaza City, the IDF is facing a problem. Of the million people, only about 10,000 have evacuated although the numbers given by the Military Spokesman's office are much rosier telling that masses are leaving Gaza City. The independent and more reliable sources are saying otherwise. I have learned a long time ago not to automatically believe the information coming out of the IDF spokesman's office. Although its percentage of lies to truth are exponentially better than the prime minister's office, their statements need also to be taken with a grain of salt.
The fact that small numbers are leaving is a good thing. If most of the population remains, the IDF, which is not in favor of this action to begin with, will go to the government, to Netanyahu and tell them that it is not possible to mass the operation they demand as it will contravene all rules of engagement that the IDF abides by as well as being against international law. A number of the ministers (and we know exactly who they are) will immediately attack the Chief of Staff and say that he is bolstering Hamas and not doing his job. These attacks will be leaked to the press and there will be those who say that Zamir, who was just appointed by Netanyahu some months ago, has to go as he is not effective in carrying out the government's orders. The bottom line, however will be that the Gaza City operation will have to be halted which is the best thing possible. The operation threatens the lives of the hostages, as we well know and the IDF Chief of Staff stated clearly and loudly to the cabinet and will see the deaths and injuries of so many soldiers. 60,000 reserve soldiers have already been called up for this operation with more to come. These 60,000 have already served hundreds of days since the war began.
It will also force Netanyahu to come to the table and make a deal to end the war. The main force will be Trump who is already losing his patience that the war does not end.
The war has to end and best to end it without the Gaza City operation with all the risks to so many lives and then to bring all of our hostages home.Red Cross chief says mass evacuation of Gaza City ‘impossible’
The head of the international Red Cross denounces Israel’s plans for a mass evacuation of Gaza City ahead of a military takeover, insisting there was no way it could be done safely.
“It is impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City could ever be done in a way that is safe and dignified under the current conditions,” International Committee of the Red Cross president Mirjana Spoljaric says in a statement, describing the evacuation plan as “not only unfeasible but incomprehensible.”
Israel said planning to slow or halt entry of aid into northern Gaza ahead of offensive
Israel will soon slow or halt humanitarian aid into parts of northern Gaza as it expands its offensive, attempting to cripple Hamas, an official says
The official, who speaks on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, tells The Associated Press that Israel will stop airdrops over Gaza City in the coming days and reduce the arrival of aid trucks into the northern part of the strip as it prepares to evacuate hundreds of thousands of residents south.
Israel on Friday declared Gaza City a combat zone, calling it a Hamas stronghold and saying that a network of tunnels remains in use despite several previous large-scale raids on the area throughout the nearly 23-month-long war.
The shift comes weeks after Israel first announced plans to widen its offensive in the city, where hundreds of thousands are sheltering. In recent days, the military has ramped up strikes and operations on the city’s outskirts.
It is unclear when the pause in aid would begin and when the airdrops would fully stop. There had been no airdrops for several days across Gaza, a break from the almost daily drops for the past few weeks.
Israel’s army didn’t respond to a request for comment about the airdrops or how it would provide aid to Palestinians as Israel ramped up its offensive.
On Friday, Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee urged Palestinians to flee south, calling evacuation “inevitable.”
Aid groups warn that a large-scale evacuation of Gaza City would exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis.
Israel says airstrike killed key Hamas operative in Gaza City
IDF and Shin Bet say precision strike targeted Hamas in Rimal neighborhood; announcement comes as Israel prepares for broader Gaza City offensive, after 7 soldiers wounded by explosive in Zeitoun
The IDF and Shin Bet security agency said Saturday evening that a key Hamas operative was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City.In a joint statement, the IDF and Shin Bet said the strike was carried out in northern Gaza “under the leadership of the Southern Command and directed by Military Intelligence.” AFP reported the strike hit Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood.Reports in Gaza: Hamas eliminates prominent clan leader who opposed its continued rule in the Strip- Reports in Gaza: Hamas eliminates prominent clan leader who opposed its continued rule in the Strip Hamas eliminated the head of the Abu Samra clan in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza Strip. This is according to reports from the Strip. Abu Samatra, who was one of the prominent opponents of Hamas's continued rule in Gaza, was assassinated by gunfire near his home
Palestinian source said to confirm that IDF strike killed Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida
A Palestinian source tells the Saudi channel Al-Arabiya that the notorious spokesman of Hamas’s military wing, was killed in an airstrike last night in an apartment in Gaza City.
The IDF and Shin Bet said in a statement that they had carried out an airstrike on a senior Hamas operative in the Gaza City area, in the northern Gaza Strip.
While the statement did not provide the identity of the targeted terror operative, multiple Hebrew media outlets reported that it was the longtime Hamas spokesman, Hudayfa Samir Abdallah al-Kahlout, who is more widely known by his nom de guerre Abu Obeida.
The Palestinian source told Al-Arabiya that everyone in the apartment was killed, including Abu Obeida.
The source says that senior Hamas officials and his family members confirmed his death after examining the body.
There has been no official confirmation from the terror group that sometimes waits months before confirming the deaths of senior figures
**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!!!”
Ending the War In Gaza: What Must Be Done Now
August 30, 2025
Israel’s military juggernaut will not be stopped in Gaza without significant international pressure and a range of conditional sanctions. By Gershon Baskin
For 18 years, I have negotiated with Hamas. While there were short periods during that time that I was authorized by Israeli officials to pass messages on to Hamas leaders and negotiators, most of my contacts were not authorized but generally viewed as valuable at best and, at worst, having no influence at all. My secret direct back channel was used to secure the deal which led to the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, held by Hamas for five years, back in 2011. I believe that my contacts also led to the first negotiated deal between Israel and Hamas at the end of 2023. In September 2024, I secured an agreement from Hamas to release all of the Israeli hostages (more than 100 at that time) in exchange for a three-week period that would end the war, release Palestinian prisoners, and lead to a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The Israeli and American sides were not interested at that time.
There is another partial deal currently on the table—put forward by the Egyptian and Qatari mediators and supported by the United States—for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza. Hamas would release 10 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of 18 deceased hostages. In exchange, Israel would release about 200 Palestinian prisoners, most of them serving life-sentences for killing Israelis, and another 1,000 Gazans taken prisoner during the past 22 months. The exchange would not include those who crossed the border on October 7, 2023 to kill Israelis. The deal is very close to the one presented months ago when Israel reportedly accepted it, but then claimed Hamas walked away from the table. The truth is that Hamas was continuing to negotiate on the details when Israel walked away and blamed it for being unreasonably hardline on the issues of Palestinian prisoner release and the redeployment of Israeli troops in Gaza. The United States adopted the Israeli narrative and blamed Hamas for the failure of the talks.
When Israel recalled its negotiating team before Hamas agreed to the new deal, Hamas released videos of two starving and emaciated, near-death Israeli hostages in the hopes the images would rally the Israeli public against the government’s failure to bring them home. It did. The mass protests on August 17 brought out one million Israelis in demonstrations across Israel, with some 400,000 in Tel Aviv in the evening. But these, too, failed to move the Israeli government and its prime minister even one millimeter.
More than two weeks have passed since the partial Egyptian-Qatari deal was accepted by Hamas, but the Israeli government has yet to respond.
On August 28, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and his Qatari counterpart Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani issued a joint statement blaming Israel for the delay in implementing the ceasefire deal.
They said that Israel was showing “resistance and delay” to their proposed deal, and called on the international community to pressure Netanyahu to agree to the ceasefire.
Meanwhile in Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump has said he was deeply disturbed by the Hamas videos and that he felt a deep personal connection to the Israeli hostages and to their families. He then issued a statement that Israel needs to do what Israel needs to do—essentially giving Netanyahu the green light to advance the planned escalation of the war and the total occupation and destruction of all of Gaza.
What infrastructure remains in Gaza will now be flattened by Israel.
Finality
Israel is engaging in all kinds of tricks and deceptions to enable the final stage of the war before ‘total victory and the total destruction of Hamas’, as Netanyahu has described it several times during the past 22 months. One of those deceptions is the long time that Israel says will be needed to properly plan and execute its newest military operation to take over all of Gaza, which was approved during the first two weeks of August.
The truth is that this operation has already begun. Israel has sent notices to 60,000 reservists to show up for duty on September 2 (the day after the school year begins so that those who are fathers can take their kids to school on September 1). No one should have any illusion about what the true goals are: level the central area of the Strip including Gaza City and squeeze more than two million Gazans into the southwest corner of the Strip. Israel has begun this military operation and is already attacking the outlying neighborhoods of Sabra, Zaytoun, and Jabalia.
The human pressure cooker will explode; Israel—chiefly Netanyahu and his government coalition allies Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and Cabinet Minister Bezalel Smotrich—want the dire humanitarian disaster to force the Gazan masses to cross the border into Egypt. Egypt, meanwhile, has begun to deploy more forces on the Gaza-Sinai border in fear that it will be breached by thousands of Gazans trying to escape the misery and the fear of being killed.
The Israeli plan even includes the government’s approval to allocate more than $300 million to prepare infrastructure for what is being described as “the humanitarian zone”—including roads, electricity, water, tent cities, and more.
There is nothing humanitarian about what they are planning and implementing. Crowding two million hungry Palestinians who have already lost everything and have been moved from one location to another in Gaza several times already cannot be called humanitarian. These actions by Israel are illegal under international law and cannot be whitewashed in any way, especially not by calling them humanitarian.
How much of this will actually be accomplished by Israel remains to be determined. As long as there is no alternative deal that Trump would accept to end the war, the Americans will continue to provide political cover for Israel, as they have done until now. The United States has adopted the Israeli blame narrative for which side is to be held accountable for continuing the war—Hamas. It will also use its veto power or its threat to veto to guarantee that the UN Security Council is ineffective in pressuring Israel to end its war on Gaza.
What Hamas Should Do
While Hamas have informed me that they want to end the war—and have included significant concessions to that goal—they nonetheless failed to present their own initiative to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators. Instead, they claim that the mediators have pushed them to accept a partial deal because that is what Israel and the United States are willing to accept. For some inexplicable reason, Hamas has not stood firm on outright ending the war, even though they have said that they are willing to release all of the Israeli hostages in 24-48 hours and have publicly agreed to give up governing Gaza in favor of a Palestinian technocratic civilian government that they would not be part of.
Because Israel has failed to respond to the deal accepted by Hamas, I have advised Hamas to draft a comprehensive end-of-war deal and to hand it in writing to Qatari Prime Minister Al Thani. I also suggested that they stop seeing Netanyahu and Israel as the ‘other side’ at the negotiating table. Netanyahu does not want to end the war. Instead, Hamas needs to imagine that they are sitting across the table from Trump and ask themselves what the U.S. president wants and how best they can deliver.
First and foremost, Trump wants to see a new non-Hamas Palestinian government working in Gaza and supported by Egypt and Qatar. This is essential so that he can debunk Israel’s claim (which had him convinced until now) that if it leaves Gaza, Hamas remains in power.
Second, Hamas needs to say that with the implementation of the end-of-war deal, it will release all of the Israeli hostages—those still alive and those who died in captivity.
They can say that when the Israeli withdrawal is complete, the last hostages will be released. If Israel wants the 60 days of ceasefire first then, fine, Hamas accepts that and Israel will have 60 days to leave Gaza. Hamas, I have been told by a member of their negotiating team, will accept an Israeli no-entry security zone along the Gaza-Israel border, with no Israeli soldiers inside of Gaza.
I have also been told by a member of the Hamas team that they agree to an international inspection mechanism at the Rafah crossing. They also expect a reasonable deal on the release of Palestinian prisoners and hostages from Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas demands a massive increase of food supplies, medical aid, fuel, generators, and more, to be managed by international organizations in Gaza and not by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (that should be shut down).
Hamas should deliver their plan to the Qataris and the Egyptians and publish it in Western media. Hamas should immediately begin to provide real food and medical care for the 20 living Israeli hostages and film them being cared for. This care should continue until they are released. They need to do this because this is the right thing to do according to Islamic law and because it will bring Trump to the side of ending the war.
Until Hamas produces a written initiative to the mediators, the Israeli-U.S. claim that Hamas wishes to continue fighting will remain the dominating narrative of what is happening in Gaza.
Israeli Impunity
In the meantime, it must be acknowledged that Netanyahu and his government are immune to public pressure in Israel. They have a strong base and a majority in the Knesset, and they perceive any protest against the government as the actions of the home-grown anti-Israel (it is really anti-Netanyahu—not anti-Israel) leftist traitors who support Hamas and Israel’s other enemies.
Israel also continues to enjoy overwhelming impunity internationally. While the international community is obligated by international law to do everything in their power to prevent genocide, they are not doing that, and as such they are complicit in the genocide taking place in Gaza. There is growing global criticism against Israel, but it will take significantly more pressure to produce any real impact. Recognizing the State of Palestine (which should have been done decades ago) and cancelling the visa of a right-wing fanatic Israeli minister to Australia is not enough.
Every country in the world with relations with Israel needs to immediately impose conditional sanctions on Israel, to be lifted when Israel ends the war and withdraws from Gaza. That is the most important thing right now—getting the war in Gaza to end. Afterward, we can discuss what needs to be done to end the Israeli occupation, create peace, and implement a fair two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Link
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
*2:30am- Gaza envelope-drone intrusion- Ein Haasara, Nirim, Bnei Netzarim, Naveh
Body of slain hostage Idan Shtivi recovered from Gaza
Idan Shtivi, 28, killed on October 7, 2023, and his body taken captive by Hamas terrorists from the Nova desert rave. (Courtesy, the family)
The IDF and the Shin Bet recovered the body of Idan Shtivi during an operation in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces.
On Friday, the IDF announced it had recovered the bodies of slain hostage Ilan Weiss and of a second hostage, whom it did not identify at the time.
Shtivi, now confirmed as the second slain hostage whose body was recovered in the operation, was killed at the Nova music festival during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught in southern Israel.
Shtivi, 28, was a nature lover and photography enthusiast who was studying sustainability and government at Herzliya’s Reichman University
His body was identified at the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine.
In a statement, Netanyahu calls Shtivi “a man of great courage and heart.”
“On October 7, 2023, he took part in the Nova music festival, and when the terrorist attack began, he acted to rescue and save many participants at the party,” says Netanyahu.
He was seized by Hamas terrorists at the desert rave, where he had volunteered to photograph the event.
He joined the party at 6 a.m. — just half an hour before the attack started — and called his girlfriend at 7, telling her about the missiles overhead and that he was leaving.
Shtivi left in his car with two friends, Lior and Yulia, but was blocked by the terrorists on the road heading north. He then turned the car around and started driving south, but was driven off the road, lost control of the vehicle and hit a tree.
He was last seen in that location, and the car was later found full of bullet holes and blood. His friends’ bodies were found at the scene.
In a separate statement, Defense Minister Israel Katz sends his “deepest condolences” to Shtivi’s family, and praises his bravery.
Netanyahu and Katz both promise to bring back the remaining 48 hostages. Twenty of them are believed to be alive, there are grave concerns for two others, and the other 26 have been confirmed as dead.
Gaza and the South
IDF says it struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon
The IDF reports that earlier today, the air force carried out airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
The IDF says it struck the terror group’s “military infrastructure, including underground infrastructure” where the military had identified Hezbollah activity.
Residents of northern Israel reportedly heard the impacts of the strikes.
The strike comes as the Lebanese government has vowed to take steps to disarm Hezbollah, which has effectively controlled southern Lebanon for decades. Hezbollah has vowed not to surrender its weapons.
Israeli troops have remained stationed in several points in southern Lebanon following a ceasefire with Hezbollah in November 2024. The IDF says it carries out strikes in response to violations of the ceasefire.
Ben Gvir plans new policy barring protests on major roads or at synagogues
Police minister seeks AG’s approval but vows to implement policy regardless if she does not respond within 5 days; opposition MKs decry attempt to ‘trample’ free expression
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir is seeking to implement a new policy dictating how police are to handle protests, which would forbid demonstrators from blocking major roads or rallying at synagogues.
The plan is highly likely to face significant legal challenges.
The new policy, published in full Thursday, would prohibit protests blocking highways and major routes, as well as roads leading to hospitals, isolated towns, emergency routes and Ben Gurion Airport.
It would also require protesters to obtain approval from the police, who Ben Gvir oversees, in order to block roads within cities. Protests at synagogues would likewise be prohibited based on the claim that they impede freedom of religion. (Protesters have sometimes demonstrated against religious political leaders at the synagogues they frequent.)
“Freedom of religion and the [freedom of] conscience for worshipers in the synagogue overrides the freedom to protest within or at the site of a synagogue or any other house of worship,” the document reads.
Ben Gvir said he he had sought the approval of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara for the move several months ago, but claimed he received no response. He issued an ultimatum to the legal official Thursday, vowing to implement the restrictions regardless of her approval should she fail to respond within five days.
Several senior police officers voiced their displeasure with the restrictions, telling the Ynet news outlet that decisions regarding such matters should be made by officers on the ground, rather than an elected official.
Protesters demanding a hostage and ceasefire deal begin to gather on Begin Highway in Jerusalem, blocking the road to traffic on August 17, 2025. (Charlie Summers/Times of Israel)Ben Gvir in April signed a legally binding compromise with the attorney general, which requires him to confer with her and the Israel Police chief before setting policy on matters of protests and freedom of expression.
The policy must be “published ahead of time” and be “future-oriented, public, general, equal and not be determined, published or changed according to [specific] protest events,” per the agreement.
Ben Gvir has feuded regularly with Baharav-Miara over his interference in police matters, particularly regarding the issues of anti-government protests and police promotions.She has frequently claimed that the minister’s behavior threatens to harm the force’s professional, apolitical character.
The government voted recently to push Baharav-Miara out of her post — a move that was frozen by the High Court until further notice as it prepares to review it.
The far-right minister went public with his policy document days after protesters for a hostage-ceasefire deal staged nationwide demonstrations, blocking major highways between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Two major days of protest have swept the country over the past two weeks, and organizers have vowed to continue to bring people out into the streets in a bid to exert pressure on the government to sign off on thehostage deal proposal on the table.
Protesters march to Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square for a rally calling for a deal securing the release of hostages held in Gaza on August 26, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)Several opposition lawmakers railed against Ben Gvir’s new restrictions following their publication.
Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz, formerly a high-ranking cop who headed the Lahav 433 major crimes unit, said the prospect of a minister drafting such a policy paper would be inconceivable “in a sane democratic regime.”
“It is no surprise that an unfit minister, a convicted criminal, is trying to influence police work in the area of demonstrations and freedom of expression, and along the way attempting another political maneuver against the attorney general and High Court of Justice. This policy document should be thrown in the garbage,” he wrote.
Labor MK Gilad Kariv, a left-wing lawmaker who sits on the Knesset National Security Committee and frequently attends anti-government protests in Tel Aviv, also denounced the document as an attempt to “trample freedom of expression.”
“Ben Gvir is afraid of the protest movement, and seeks to suppress it through the police, because he and his friends know that it expresses the demand of the majority of the public to bring back the hostages and end the war,” he wrote on X. “I call on the senior command of the Israel Police to show no confusion regarding their role, and to act in accordance with the letter of the law and court rulings.”
According to the Haaretz newspaper, Justice Ministry representatives were meeting Ben Gvir’s staffers to discuss the insertion of the agreement into the police ordinance.
The team intends to discuss the minister’s proposed policy on demonstrations in the coming weeks, and has requested a written statement from police chief Danny Levy and police’s legal counsel regarding the limitations. Link Ben Gvir has always been a provocateur throughout his life. The problem now is that he has power to ensure that his provocations have actions that are against anyone who he views as his enemy. With the Israel police under his ministry, he has turned them into his private militia and they actually go after the protestors against the government and for the hostages, both of which run counter to Ben Gvir's messianic extremist missions. Hi has succeeded in making many in the police subservient to him and doing his bidding to be on his good side. He has succeeding in removing the Senior Tel Aviv police officer who was in charge of maintaining order during all protests because he was not harsh enough and didn't condone police violence against the protestors. He is now attempting to do the same because he wants stronger and more violent police action against protestors in the city.
In addition, this anti democracy extremist is trying to unilaterally change the policies, rules and protocol for demonstrations, permits and locations to make it almost impossible for protesters to actually protest. If it was up to Ben Gvir, no one would be allowed to protest against the government or his actions, nor demonstrate in favor of the hostages. He would revoke all rights to congregate and demonstrate as well as freedoms of speech. He is all about silencing anyone who is against him and taking away all the rights from anyone who is not with him. Fortunately, we still have some semblance of a democracy, fragile and sick as it is. The attorney general still acts as a gatekeeper for the law despite all Ben Gvir, Netanyahu and others attempts to fire her. The courts still have power separate from the Knesset and are gatekeepers but those days may be limited because these anti democratic politicians together with the most anti democrat Ben Gvir are rapidly doing away with the power of the courts in order to make them subservient to the government, with the claims that it is the democratic way.
They are dangerous to our democracy, to the very existence of the state and are trying to make Israel a Jewish Iran where they are the only ones with power, in other words, they want to bring about the end of Israel.Ben Gvir, pushing for crackdown on protests, said to weigh firing Tel Aviv’s top cop
Cabinet to convene tomorrow - but again won't discuss partial deal and Hamas response
The Cabinet is expected to discuss tomorrow the situation in the Gaza Strip, the response to international recognition of a Palestinian state, and the situation in Lebanon and Syria. However, Hamas's principal response and the possibility of a partial deal will not be on the agenda. This is because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Cabinet have already decided they will only discuss a comprehensive deal Link this complete disregard of the hostage deal acceptance by Hamas is a slap in the face of every hostage, the families and the majority of the Israeli public. Netanyahu’s choice to not even have the hostage crisis, not just the partial deal is a continuation of his willingness to sacrifice every last hostage he has left in Gaza for 695 days. The values that we were all raised on have no meaning for Netanyahu and his entire government
PM releases new Oct. 7 footage of terrorists murdering father in front of two sons
In public diplomacy push, Netanyahu’s office publishes CCTV clip from invasion of Netiv Ha’asara of terrorists tossing grenade into shelter where Gil Taasa rushed young boys
Or Taasa, left, and Gil Taasa (In a bid to counter criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Friday released new footage of terrorists killing a father in front of his two sons during the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in the Strip.
“Out of respect for the family’s wishes, this video is not for broadcast or distribution inside Israel,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The CCTV footage from the Taasa family home in Netiv Ha’asara, on Gaza’s northern border, shows 46-year-old father Gil rushing his two sons Koren, then 12, and Shay, then 8, out of the house and into an outdoor bomb shelter as terrorists pursue them.
One of the terrorists hurls a grenade into the shelter, and Gil is then seen falling to the ground at the shelter’s entrance after it goes off.
Koren and Shay — still in their underwear as the attack began at 6:29 a.m. — then walk out of the shelter at gunpoint back into the house, passing their father’s lifeless body. They are both bloodied from the grenade fragments.
The two boys are then seen in the living room begging for help while writhing in pain. Unfazed, a terrorist comes inside and takes a beverage from the fridge.
Shay ultimately lost sight in one eye as a result of the attack. Their eldest brother, Or, was murdered separately at nearby Zikim Beach, where the 17-year-old had gone fishing that morning. A fourth brother, 15-year-old Zohar, was with the boys’ mother Sabine, Gil’s neighbor and ex-wife, at the time of the onslaught.
In a video statement on the release of the footage, Netanyahu, standing alongside Sabine Taasa, praised her for joining Israel’s public diplomacy efforts and approving the video for publication.
“Sabine’s courage shames these terrorist cowards. She and her children carry scars that I’m afraid will never heal, yet she stands tall with dignity, with strength,” said the premier.
“This film should break every decent heart that still beats. It should silence every lie that still circulates,” he said. “To the leaders who vilify Israel, I say, ‘Watch this film.’ To the terrorists of Hamas who vow to repeat the October 7 massacre again and again, I say, ‘We won’t let you do it.’ We’ll destroy Hamas. We’ll bring our hostages home because we remember October 7. And so should you.”
Taasa said in the statement: “When you have an enemy next to you, you cannot sleep [soundly] at night. You cannot know when he will attack. I’m here to show all of the world my story, to show the world the truth that October 7 happened in Israel.”
During the onslaught, Hamas-led terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, mostly civilians. Forty-eight hostages now remain in Gaza, at least 26 of whom are confirmed by the IDF to be dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 62,000 people, according to the Strip’s Hamas-run health ministry. The figure, which cannot be independently verified, does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Countries including allies of Israel have grown increasingly critical of the offensive in Gaza as the death toll there has swelled and the humanitarian crisis intensified, with a UN hunger monitor last week declaring famine in parts of the Strip.
Israel has denied that there is famine in Gaza, accused Hamas of looting deliveries of humanitarian aid to the Strip and blamed the terror group for civilian deaths there, saying it uses Gazans as human shields and embeds itself in civilian infrastructure including hospitals and schools. Link
IDF said to believe entire Houthi cabinet likely killed in Thursday strikes
Reports in Yemen say attack killed Houthi prime minister and other top officials; IDF confirms Iran-backed group’s defense minister, chief of staff targeted
The IDF assesses that the entire Houthi cabinet — including the prime minister and 12 other ministers — were likely killed in Thursday’s strikes in Yemen, Channel 12 reported Friday, without citing any sources.
The network said the assessment was not definitive and that the IDF was still working to reach a clearer understanding of the strike’s results.
Yemen’s Al-Jumhuriya channel and the Aden Al-Ghad newspaper reported that Houthi Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi was killed in an Israeli attack on an apartment in the capital Sanaa, with the latter reporting that several of his companions were killed as well.
It appeared from the reports to have been a separate strike from the one that was saidtarget 10 senior Houthi ministers as they gathered in a location outside of the capital to hear a speech by the group’s leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi.
The IDF on Friday confirmed that the Houthi defense minister and chief of staff were targeted in that attack. As of Friday afternoon, it was still awaiting confirmation of the result.
Channel 12 said the two were en route to the location of the cabinet meeting shortly before the strike and were apparently at the site when it was hit.
The outcome of that attack has yet to be fully determined, although political sources cited Thursday by Channel 13 news claimed that “the direction is positive, it seems the attack succeeded,” and Ynet reported that “there is growing assessment that the entire Houthi military and governmental elite were eliminated in the attack.”
At a situational assessment held Friday on the military’s ongoing operations across the region, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said, “The Houthis operate as an additional terrorist branch of Iran, continue to attack Israel, and threaten regional and international stability. Our message is clear — there will be no tolerance.”
Israeli intelligence provided real-time details of the gathering, enabling the strike, which was carried out despite heavy air defenses in the area, the IDF said.
As al-Houthi delivered his address, Israel reportedly monitored it to see whether he realized senior officials were being targeted, and he gave no indication of being aware, reports said. Video
The defense minister, Muhammad Nasser al-Attafi, has been in his role since 2016, and is considered the senior-most official in the organization’s military establishment, according to Channel 12.
Houthi Defense Minister Muhammad Nasser al-Attafi (Aden TV screenshot via Wikipedia)He is reported to have established a close relationship with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and with Hezbollah.
Illustrative: Fire and smoke can be seen at the site of an IDF strike outside of Houthi-controlled Sanaa, in Yemen, on August 24, 2025. (Screenshot: X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)Also targeted was Houthi chief of staff Muhammad Al-Ghamari, who was reportedly seriously hurt, but not killed, by an Israeli strike in Yemen in June, carried out during Israel’s brief war with Iran.
An unnamed senior official told Channel 12 on Thursday that Israel had been ready to target Houthi leadership as part of a different strike on Sanaa on Sunday, but ultimately waited until Thursday.
Officials have cast the strike in dramatic terms. Previous Israeli actions in Yemen have failed to halt the Houthis’ continued drone and missile attacks during the ongoing war, though the earlier attacks usually targeted infrastructure, rather than hitting specific officials based on precise intelligence.
A source from the Houthi defense ministry denied that any members of the group had been targeted in the attack, and insisted that Israel was attacking “civilian targets and the Yemeni people because of their positions supporting Gaza.”
Thursday’s strikes marked the 16th time that Israel has attacked the Iran-backed rebel group in Yemen, located some 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) away.
The Houthis — whose slogan calls for “Death to America, Death to Israel, [and] a Curse on the Jews” — began attacking Israel and maritime traffic in November 2023, a month after the October 7 Hamas massacre in southern Israel.
The Houthis held their fire when a ceasefire was reached between Israel and Hamas in January 2025. By that point, they had launched over 40 ballistic missiles and dozens of attack drones and cruise missiles at Israel, including one that killed a civilian and wounded several others in Tel Aviv in July, prompting Israel’s first strike in Yemen.
Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis in Yemen have launched 72 ballistic missiles and at least 23 drones at Israel. Several missiles have fallen short.
In response to the Houthi attacks, Israel and a United States-led coalition bombarded rebel-held areas in Yemen, including Sanaa and the strategic coastal city of Hodeida. Israeli strikes knocked the Sanaa airport out of service in May.
US President Donald Trump’s administration in May announced a deal with the Houthis to end the airstrikes in return for an end to attacks on shipping. The terror group, however, said the agreement did not include halting attacks on targets it believed were aligned with Israel. Link
Acronyms and Glossary
ICC - International Criminal Court in the Hague
IJC - International Court of Justice in the Hague
MDA - Magen David Adom - Israel Ambulance Corp
PA - Palestinian Authority - President Mahmud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen
PMO- Prime Minister's Office
UAV - Unmanned Aerial vehicle, Drone. Could be used for surveillance and reconnaissance, or be weaponized with missiles or contain explosives for 'suicide' explosion mission
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