๐️Lonny's War Update- October 738, 2023 - October 13, 2025 ๐️
๐️Day 738 that 24 of our hostages are still in Hamas captivity๐️
- What a happy day!
Contrary to what all the “experts” and security officials said — Hamas has released all the living hostages.
Since September 2024, I have been saying that Hamas is ready to release everyone, but only in exchange for ending the war.
All those experts and security officials insisted that Hamas would never release them all.
Gershon Baskin
**There is nothing more important than getting them home! NOTHING!**
"The time has come, the 'return' in October" (return and seventh or homonyms in Hebrew)
“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.
“I’ve never met them,
Red Alerts - Missile, Rocket, Drone (UAV - unmanned aerial vehicles), and Terror Attacks and Death Announcements
*
All of the living hostages have returned home. It is a day of great happiness and a day of sorrow for the 28 dead hostages who have yet to come home (4 are supposed to be returned today). We have no idea how long it will take for the rest of the 24 to be returned.
The only days in the last 2 years that Israelis have been able to smile have been the days that hostages have returned to Israel. We didn't smile or celebrate when SInwar, Deif, Nasrallah or anyone else. It is because of the ethics and morals that we are all raised with: Every Israeli caring for each other and the most important Mitzvah of redemption of all prisoners (Hostages). The value of life goes before all else and that is why we, as a nation, as a people can celebrate and smile for the first time in this time, the most painful and horrible time of Israel's history.
We are all having such mixed emotions, the joys of today with the return of all the living hostages, but we feel the pain of the families still waiting for the return of their loved ones, and we feel the pain of the families of the 1200 victims of October 7, and the pain of the more than 900 members of the security services (IDF and Shin Bet) who have been killed since October 7 and we give them our heartfelt thanks for the utmost sacrifice in this war.After 738-day nightmare, all living hostages back in Israel
Released hostages Elkana Bohbot, Avinatan Or, Yosef-Haim Ohana, Evyatar David, Rom Braslavski, Segev Kalfon, Nimrod Cohen, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Matan Zangauker, Bar Kupershtein, David Cunio, and his brother Ariel Cunio have crossed the border into Israel after 738 days in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, the military says.
The 13 were escorted out of the Gaza Strip by Israeli special forces after being handed over to them by the Red Cross.
The IDF is bringing them to a facility near the border for an initial physical and mental checkup, and to meet with family members.
There are now no known living hostages kidnapped from Israel remaining in Gaza, though the bodies of 28 others are thought to still be there.
This combination of handout pictures released by the Israeli army shows released hostages (L to R, top to bottom) Alon Ohel, Eitan Mor, Gali Berman, and Guy Gilboa-Dalal (IDF / AFP)
Released hostage Ariel Cunio after he was handed over to the IDF after over two years of captivity in the Gaza Strip, October 13, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)
Released hostage Segev Kalfon after he was handed over to the IDF after over two years of captivity in the Gaza Strip, October 13, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)Released hostage Alon Ohel (C) is seen reunited with his family at the IDF’s Re’im base after over two years in Hamas captivity on October 13, 2025 (IDF)
Released hostage Nimrod Cohen after he was handed over to the IDF after over two years of captivity in the Gaza Strip, October 13, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)
Released hostage Eitan Horn after he was handed over to the IDF after over two years of captivity in the Gaza Strip, October 13, 2025 (Israel Defense Forces)
Released hostage Avinatan Or (L) with an IDF officer after he was handed over after over two years of captivity in the Gaza Strip, October 13, (Israel Defnese Forces)
Freed hostage Bar Kuperstein meets family members including father Tal (2nd left) after he was released from captivity on October 13, 2025 (Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
Hostage’s dad readies to embrace him, but says ‘I don’t know what kind of son I’m going to get back’
Ilan Dalal, the father of hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, says that the first thing he will do when he meets his son after he is released from captivity is “hug him, smell him and tell him that the nightmare is over.”
Gilboa-Dalal was taken hostage by Hamas terrorists from the Nova rave on October 7, 2023. He is set to be freed tomorrow as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas. In the past few months, his family received information that he was starved and kept chained.
“We know Guy as he was two years ago, but after he went through two years of suffering, of starvation, of humiliation, both physical and mental abuse, we don’t know how these things are going to affect him,” Dalal tells reporters in a virtual press conference. “I don’t know what kind of son I’m going to get back, and I hope that he won’t be so harmed that he can’t rebuild his life.”
The father says that in the last video of Guy released by Hamas, he saw “despair in his eyes.”
“We saw him not the way we knew him,” he notes. “It was a different Guy, so we fear that he has suffered from mental problems or physical problems, but this will all be checked by the medical staff of the hospital that will receive them. And I hope it will be okay.”
The press conference is organized by Amplify, an organization that describes its mission as “strengthening Israel in the global fight against extremism.”
Ex-hostage says captors bragged about stealing humanitarian aid, starved the hostages
Former hostage Tal Shoham says that he was starved for most of his time in captivity, while his captors stole aid and bragged about it.
“Most of my time in captivity, I was starved with Guy and Evyatar to the extent of [receiving only] 200 or 300 calories a day,” Shoham tells journalists over a Zoom press conference, referring to hostages Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David, who are set to be freed tomorrow as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas.
“There were times that I saw with my own eyes that they stole boxes and boxes and boxes of humanitarian aid from Egypt, from Turkey, from the Emirates, but they didn’t agree to give us any of this food in the tunnels,” Shoham says.
The former hostage says that the captors also bragged about stealing aid and having supplies for months, while saying they wanted the Israeli hostages to suffer like the Palestinians in Gaza.
“They used to brag that they stole the humanitarian aid and they have supplies for months ahead,” he notes. “They actually confessed one time that they are starving us first, so we will suffer as their people are suffering, although they stole the humanitarian aid. It’s kind of a logical fallacy.”
According to Shoham, the terrorists also wanted to put pressure on Israel’s society so they would see pictures of them starving.
“It was part of their sadistic psychological warfare,” he said.
After severely emaciated hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami were released in February this year, Shoham says their captors gave him, Gilboa-Dalal and David much more food.
“It backfired on Hamas and the day after, they started to give us much, much more food,” he tells reporters. “It actually was dangerous to us; it could have killed us, but we were lucky that it didn’t do so, and we are here.”
Perpetrator of 2000 lynching of 2 Israelis to go free in deal; victim’s brother: ‘Inconceivable’
As Israelis mark 25 years since a Palestinian mob lynched two IDF reservists in Ramallah, one of its perpetrators is set to go free in the hostage deal’s first phase.
Raed Sheikh, the prisoner slated for release, was a Palestinian police officer who took part in the October 12, 2000, lynching of reservists Vadim Norzhich and Yossi Avrahami after they accidentally entered the West Bank city and were taken into police custody.
A frenzied crowd quickly formed around the station as rioters called for their death. The rioters eventually stormed the building and murdered the two Israelis, mutilating their bodies and later parading them around Ramallah’s city center.
During the break-in, Sheikh took an iron rod to Norzhich, beating his head in until he bled profusely, according to an indictment quoted by Yedioth Ahronoth at the time. Sheikh was arrested months after the lynching and convicted by a military court in 2003, which sentenced him to two life terms.
Sheikh will be deported abroad following his release, according to the Justice Ministry.
Norzhich’s brother, Michael, calls the terror convict’s pending release “inconceivable” so close to the 25th anniversary of his sibling’s murder.
The bereaved brother says the victim left behind his pregnant wife, Irena, and his son David, who never knew his father before his death.
“If we are freeing the murderer, it should be clear — aside from the great pain of me and my family — the terrorist will return to terror,” Norzhich told Ynet. “They will go back to killing the Jews; this is their real goal.”
However, he adds that he is happy for the hostages expected to return home to their families, calling their release “very important and moving.” Link I have no judgement of the reactions and emotions of the families of the victims of the terrorists who will be freed in this deal. These terrorists have taken their dearest loved ones and changed their lives forever.
Yesterday, on a radio interview, I heard the wife of one terror victim from 15 years ago and the mother of another whose son had just entered the army 10 days before a terrorist killed him on the bus back to his base 10 years ago. Both of them live their tragedies every single day. The mother related that each announcement of a soldier killed during this war brought her back to the day her son was killed. Their lives changed and will never be the same. The interviewer asked them how they felt when they found out that the terrorists who killed their loved ones was going free in this deal. Both of them said almost the same things. They said that whether or not the terrorist is released will not bring their husband or son respectively back to life. On the other hand, it will help bring the hostages back home and that is their priority. They both said that the value of every Israeli being responsible for the other is the most important thing to them and their individual and family pain will never go away but their sacrifice can aid in putting other families back together.Some of the hostages have undergone torture, Israel reportedly believes
Israel is assessing that some of the living hostages to be freed tomorrow have undergone torture, Channel 12 news reports, without citing sources.
The network cites an unnamed senior defense official as saying that “with the return of the hostages, the war that began on October 7, [2023] will for all intents and purposes be over. This is the end of the campaign as we knew it.”
The IDF General Staff is already discussing the “day after,” and how to shape the post-war reality in Gaza, according to the report
Forensic Institute readies to identify deceased hostages, says process may take days
The National Institute of Forensic Medicine (Abu Kabir) says in a statement cited by Hebrew media that it is preparing to identify the bodies of the dead hostages using advanced technologies, fingerprints, dental matching and DNA extraction.
The process could take several hours and possibly several days, the Institute says.
“We want to understand what happened” to the fallen hostages before their death, says Dr. Chen Kugel, director of the center, “to bring the family full information, closure and knowledge.”
After the identification is complete and absolute certainty is reached, the findings will be transferred to official bodies in the Health Ministry and the defense establishment, and the families will be informed personally.
Since the outbreak of the war, the center has identified the remains of 55 hostages who were held captive and brought to Israel for burial.
Up to 28 more will be returned in the current deal, though officials have said it isn’t certain how many will be quickly found and returned tomorrow.
Some families of dead hostages told their loved ones’ remains may not return tomorrow
Some families of dead hostages have been told by authorities that the bodies of their loved ones may not be returned tomorrow, or in the first stage of the current Gaza deal, several Hebrew media outlets report, without citing sources.
Officials have estimated that not all the remains will be easy to find in Gaza, and that locating all of them may take time.
The reports indicate that Hamas has provided information on the specific bodies the terror group has lost track
Hostage Omri Miran’s dad says family hasn’t told his kids yet of his expected return
Dani Miran, father of 48-year-old hostage Omri Miran, says that while he is confident that his son is coming home, Omri’s young daughters have not been informed yet.
“We don’t need to tell them at this stage,” he tells Radio 103FM, referring to Alma, 2, and Roni, 4. “We don’t know what could be derailed and when. [Their mother] also didn’t send the girls to kindergarten, so that the children wouldn’t talk [to them about it], and they wouldn’t hear any rumors.”
On October 7, 2023, Omri and his wife, Lishay Lavi, were in their home at Kibbutz Nahal Oz with their daughters, who at the time were just two years and six months old. The terrorists forced the family to open the door by threatening to shoot a neighbor in the head. Shortly before Omri was taken away, Lishay told him “not to be a hero, adding: “I love you, and I’ll take care of the girls. I’ll wait for you.” When the terrorist loaded the father into his own car to take him to Gaza, Roni tried to run after him.
Since then, Omri’s family, including his father, has become among the most vocal voices in the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
Omri is set to be released early tomorrow morning, together with the other 19 hostages presumed alive in the first deal of the agreement reached between Israel and Hamas.
Asked whether it is difficult to wait one last day, Miran says it is easy.
“During this year, there have been things that were much harder,” he notes. “I know it’s going to happen, so why make it difficult? They said that by Monday, it will be 72 hours since the agreement was signed, so they are committed, we are committed, and it will happen.”
Miran also expresses his eagerness to hug his son.
“A pregnancy is nine months, and I have been waiting for my son for more than two years, like three pregnancies,” he says.
Red Cross met with hostages, says some in serious condition; release expected to begin at 8 a.m.
Armored convoys and special forces are ready for the final stage of the hostage recovery mission; the hostages will be handed over to the IDF by Red Cross representatives and flown to hospitals after medical checks in Re’im base
The Red Cross has met with the hostages and reported that some are in serious condition, just hours before the long-awaited operation to bring them home from Hamas captivity is set to begin Monday morning.Families have been instructed to arrive early at the Re’im base in southern Israel, where the hostages will undergo initial medical evaluations after their release.The operation to bring home the hostages held by Hamas is set to begin Monday morning, with the IDF fully prepared to carry out the transfer within an hour of notification. Military officials estimate the release will take place between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., possibly at one of three handover points — Khan Younis, central Gaza towns, or Gaza City.The IDF said it remains unclear how many of the hostages to be returned on Monday will be deceased. The bodies of hostages will be repatriated gradually in the coming days, beginning Monday afternoon, accompanied by short military ceremonies in the field.Military sources said Hamas is not expected to hold formal handover ceremonies but may attempt a propaganda move — such as calling the hostages’ families during the night or filming the handovers for media purposes. The IDF will not interfere with such calls.According to the agreement between Israel and Hamas, the terror group must return all hostages. The IDF clarified that if any of the hostages’ remains are not delivered within 72 hours, Israel will provide Hamas with precise coordinates of burial sites and insist the bodies be recovered. “We will insist on full implementation,” the army said.The forces tasked with the mission completed final preparations Sunday, including briefings, simulations, coordination drills and final command reviews. Special forces will enter Gaza in Eitan AFV, accompanied by tanks and infantry. The convoy will stop at a pre-designated point secured by heavy ground and aerial protection. Air support will be used to isolate the area and prevent the approach of unauthorized individuals. Red Cross representatives will hand the hostages over to Israeli troops there.
The initial intake point where the hostages will arrive (Photo: IDF)At the site, soldiers will conduct immediate identification checks and ensure no explosives or tracking devices — including those possibly implanted in the body — have been placed on the hostages.
(Photo: IDF)The armored convoy will then proceed to the hostage intake center at the Re’im base in southern Israel, where the freed hostages will undergo preliminary medical evaluations. Each will be received in a separate room for private debriefing and medical assessment before reuniting with their families.Afterward, the hostages will be airlifted by Israel Air Force helicopters to hospitals — Sheba Medical Center, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva — where they will begin long-term physical and psychological rehabilitation.Under the agreement, Hamas is also expected to return 28 bodies of hostages. Only part of that process is likely to take place on Monday. Once identification is confirmed, the families will be notified and repatriation to Israel will be completed.
Initial intake point (Photo: IDF)Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for hostages and missing persons, said earlier Sunday that “the Red Cross convoy, made up of several vehicles, will expand its capacity. It will include between eight and 10 vehicles — jeeps, a minibus and an ambulance if needed. I’m in constant contact with the head of the Red Cross delegation; they received all the equipment they requested from us.”“There will be a single phase of release for all 20 hostages,” Hirsch added. “We have teams trained for the first contact — experts in psychological care and in giving a sense of safety.”He said the Re’im reception compound “has undergone a full upgrade and expansion because this time all living hostages will be released at once, unlike previous operations in smaller groups. We are prepared to receive all families and provide them with privacy and proper conditions.”Hirsch noted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally visited the site on Friday to receive a detailed briefing and review the readiness of the military and health systems. “He gave several instructions, and we are fully prepared for the process,” Hirsch said. Link- Ruby Chen says hostage families feel let down, want concrete tools to bring hostages home. Ruby Chen, Father of Israeli hostage Itay Chen attends a protest calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, outside the U.S. Embassy Branch Office in Tel Aviv, July 4, 2025. (photo credit:AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)We need leadership, not silence, declared Chen, who accused Israeli leaders of avoiding grieving families and calls on both Washington and Jerusalem to show moral courage and transparency.Ruby Chen, an American Israeli father whose son was taken captive and later confirmed killed in the October 7 attack by Hamas, says families of the hostages feel like their government could have done a better job and want clear mechanisms to ensure every captive, living or dead, is brought home.“We tried to ask [United States Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve] Witkoff and Jared [Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law] what type of levers exist, and also to the Israeli government as well,” Chen told The Media Line. When pressed, he clarified: “Levers, sanctions.”He said that while current ceasefire arrangements link Palestinian prisoner releases to living hostages, “for the deceased hostages, there is no such caveat. So it’s only a best effort. And that for a number of families is very uneasy.”When asked whether families know how many deceased hostages might be returned, Chen answered bluntly: “Nobody knows what the number is. Everything is just speculation.”
- Hamas stages video calls between hostages, families in lieu of handover ceremonies
Terror group’s military wing connects captives to their loved ones in Israel hours before their release; at least one family said to refuse callShortly before releasing them, the Hamas terror group on Monday morning orchestrated video calls between some of the living hostages and their families, who were anxiously awaiting their return.
Footage of the calls, in which masked terrorists could be seen alongside the hostages, came after the terror group agreed not to reprise the propaganda ceremonies it held when it released hostages under previous agreements.
The hostages released on Monday appeared to be wearing the same fake military uniforms that Hamas had made the previously released captives wear at the ceremonies.
The calls were placed to family members who were already at the Re’im military base preparing to be reunited with their loved ones.
At least one family refused to accept a call from Hamas, Channel 12 news reported.
In at least one other case, a masked terrorist appeared to address a hostage’s family members, though his comments were inaudible in the footage.
Julie Kuperstein, mother of hostage Bar Kuperstein, recalled: “We were at the [Re’im] compound, and suddenly there was a missed call. I saw ‘Al Aqsa Brigades’ — I called them back, and they answered me! All of a sudden I see Bar!”
“He said, ‘Mom, everything is okay! Mom, everything is okay!’” she told Channel 12 news, weeping.
“Wow, wow, what a guy! I’m beside myself, I love him. Thank you, God, thank you, Father in Heaven, thank you, thank you!” she added.
Because many of the hostages were held together ahead of their release, some of the calls included several conversations, as the phone was passed between hostages, on the one end, and families, on the other.
In one video, Einav Zangauker, was seen speaking with her hostage son Matan, who was still being held in an undisclosed location in Gaza.
“You’re coming home — you’re all coming home,” she told him through tears. “There’s no more war, it’s over.”
Families relieved at sons’ condition after propaganda clips
Hostage Rom Braslavski, who was previously seen in a Hamas propaganda clip emaciated and weak, assured his mother that he was okay in a video call prior to his release.
“We saw Rom, and we were excited, and he was so excited, he looked okay, thank God,” she told Channel 12, recalling the conversation. “He smiled, he spoke, he stood on his own two feet, and I’m only waiting to see him, only waiting to give him a special hug, just to hug my child.”
The family of Evyatar David — who was also last seen in a propaganda clip looking severely underweight, with a shovel, reporting that he was being made to dig his own grave — also spoke with their hostage loved one.
Lishay Miran-Lavi spoke to her captive husband Omri prior to his release.
Lishay Miran-Lavi’s first conversation with her husband Omri, while he was still in Hamas captivity, ahead of his expected release on October 13, 2025 (Hostages and Missing Families Forum)Silvia Cunio said she managed to have a brief conversation with her captive sons, Ariel and David.
“I couldn’t hear anything, but I saw them, and that’s enough,” she told Channel 12 through tears.
Yotam Cohen, brother of hostage Nimrod Cohen, said he told him that he is “as good looking as ever, and he said he’s fine and loves us and just wanted to see us. And we’ll hug him in a moment.”
Nimrod’s mother Viki almost didn’t answer the call because she didn’t recognize the number, Hebrew media reported.
Gali and Ziv Berman and Eitan Horn also spoke with their families on video calls.
An image of hostage Nimrod Cohen in a video call while still in Hamas captivity on October 13, 2025 (Courtesy)Ruhama Bohbot, the mother of Elkana Bohbot, spoke with her son, who told her: “Everything is okay, you can relax, everything is okay.”
Avi Ohana, father of hostage Yosef-Haim Ohana, told his son: “We love you, all of Israel is waiting for you, God is with you, he’s looking after you, he’s protecting you, and today he’s taking you out of there.”
“He looks totally fine, thank God, thank God,” Avi told Channel 12, adding that he and his family were waiting to “hug, smell, and breathe” their son upon his release.
Hostage Maxim Herkin, standing alongside a masked terrorist, called his family, who, overcome with emotion, told him to also call his mother, who was not in the same room.
“We will call her, she did not answer,” Herkin was heard responding, apparently referring to him and the terrorist.
Herkin also reported that Segev Kalfon, another hostage, was “good. Everything is okay with him.” link
Streets in Tel Aviv go quiet as nation watches hostages go free
The streets of Tel Aviv were eerily calm and fairly deserted in the early hours of the morning as tens of thousands of Israelis gathered at Hostages Square and in front of their screens, watching together the release of the 20 living hostages held captive in Gaza.
Others were glued to their TVs, computers or phones, leaving little trace of the hustle and bustle that would normally characterize the busy streets of Tel Aviv on the eve of the Simchat Torah holiday, a short workday.
In the streets and alleys of the usually buzzing Tel Aviv Carmel food market and the close-by open-air Bezalel clothing market, some stall and shop owners decided to keep their businesses shut or to open late in the morning. Those who opened early were glued to their phones and others had their radios blaring the news.
Around noon, after scenes had been broadcast of all the living Israeli hostages being released by Hamas and transferred to the hands of IDF troops, many shopping sites and half-empty coffee shops in central Tel Aviv started to come back to life.
“After watching our hostages released and freed, we are seeing that people are coming out of their homes to do their shopping and run errands before the start of the Simchat Torah holiday,” says a sales assistant at boutique pastry shop, Gabby’s Goodies, at the Carmel Market. “We will remain open until late this afternoon to serve everyone as needed.”
A view of the Carmel Market on October 13, 2025. (Sharon Wrobel/Times of Israel)Only four of 28 bodies of dead hostages to be returned today, families forum says, denouncing ‘blatant breach of agreement by Hamas’
The Hostage and Missing Families Forum says only four of the 28 bodies of dead hostages will be returned to Israel today, calling it a “blatant breach” of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
There has not been an announcement on the identities of the four, and there has been no confirmation from Israeli authorities on the number of bodies expected today.
Several families of dead hostages were told by Israeli authorities yesterday that their loved ones’ bodies would not be returned today or tomorrow, and that Israel would spare no effort to locate and return them. However, numerous sources had indicated that the majority of the dead hostages would be returned today or soon afterward.
Hamas had warned that it would have difficulties locating some of the bodies.
“This represents a blatant breach of the agreement by Hamas. We expect Israel’s government and the mediators to take immediate action to rectify this grave injustice,” the forum says, noting it is “shocked and dismayed.”
“The families of the deceased hostages are enduring especially difficult days filled with deep sorrow,” says the group. “We will not abandon any hostage. The mediators must enforce the agreement’s terms and ensure Hamas pays a price for this violation.”
Earlier today, 20 living hostages were released under the deal brokered by US President Donald Trump, who is currently in Israel.
Israel says it has freed all 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 250 lifetermers, as part of still-unfinished hostage deal
All Palestinian prisoners to be freed under the US-backed hostage deal have been released from Israeli prisons, an IDF spokesperson tells The Times of Israel.
The prisoners include 250 terror convicts serving one or more life sentences, as well as 1,718 Gazan detainees arrested over the course of the war.
Israel had initially said it would wait until all hostages had been released, but instead decided to free the prisoners after all 20 living hostages were freed this morning but before Hamas handed over the bodies of 28 hostages believed to be dead.
Palestinian media outlets publish footage showing the arrival of prisoners released in the hostage deal and permitted to return to the West Bank arriving in Ramallah. Palestinian Authority security forces can be seen moving people away from the area to allow buses to pass.
Some of the 250 security prisoners released will be deported abroad or sent back to Gaza, as they are originally from the Strip. According to Palestinian reports, 88 prisoners are being released to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Footage allegedly shows Hamas and militias clashing in Gaza City
Media outlets in Gaza publish footage showing armed men engaged in firefights in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, asserting that Hamas security forces are battling militias that receive support from Israel.
According to some reports, the clashes took place near the homes of members of the Dormush clan, a large and long-established family in Gaza.
Pro-Hamas media reported yesterday that Hamas executed several members of the clan on suspicion of collaborating with Israel, but a statement later released by the Dormush family on social media denied the claim. Video
Hamas said to arrest 60 members of rival clan after gunfights in Gaza City
Media outlets in Gaza report that Hamas has arrested 60 members of the rival Dormush family clan in Gaza City, following gun battles between the terror organization and the clan. According to the reports, they have been transferred to security facilities for interrogation.
Earlier, an exchange of fire between the clan and Hamas operatives was documented in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza.
Hamas forces said to kill 32 members of Gaza ‘gang’ since start of ceasefire
Hamas forces have killed 32 members of “a gang” in Gaza City in a campaign launched after a ceasefire came into effect on Friday, while six of their personnel were also killed in the violence, a Palestinian source says.
The source says the operation in Gaza City had targeted members of a “dangerous gang affiliated with a family in Gaza City.” The operation had led to the arrest of 24 people and 30 others being wounded, the official says.
Since the ceasefire began late last week in the terror group’s two-year-long war with Israel, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza has deployed forces in what it has described as an effort to prevent a security vacuum that would be filled by lawlessness and looting.
While US President Donald Trump has demanded Hamas disarm under a plan to end the Gaza war, he indicated that it had a green light for internal security operations, saying they wanted “to stop the problems” and “we gave them approval for a period of time.”
Hamas released 20 living Israeli hostages today as part of the ceasefire.
The Palestinian official did not identify the “gang” involved, although there are several clans in Gaza that have long been seen as rivals to Hamas but who only emerged in more open opposition as the war ground on. There have been several clashes.
However, the official said the “gang” was not part of a group led by the most prominent anti-Hamas rebel, Yasser Abu Shabab, who is based in Rafah in southern Gaza, an area controlled by Israel.
Hamas has accused Abu Shabab and his supporters of being collaborators with Israel. He denies receiving Israeli support or having contacts with the Israeli army.
The Hamas official said a senior aide to Abu Shabab “has been liquidated” since the terror group’s campaign started with the ceasefire, and said the hunt for Abu Shabab was underway.
“The security campaign is continuing and escalating until this issue is completely over, and no party will be allowed to violate the law,” he added.
UN officials say real progress is being made today with humanitarian aid being allowed into Gaza.
Eri Kaneko, a spokesperson for the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, says cooking gas supplies have entered Gaza for the first time since March. Other aid moving through includes flour, fruit, and meat.
She adds that officials have also been given additional access to move in medical equipment and help move Palestinians from flood-prone areas to safer locations, ahead of the winter.
Unverified report: Remains of legendary spy Eli Cohen will be transferred to Israel soon
The Saudi channel Al-Hadath reports that the remains of Israeli spy Eli Cohen, who operated in Syria during the 1960s, will soon be transferred to Israel.
Eli Cohen was captured and executed by the Syrian regime in 1965 and buried in Damascus. Over the years, Bashar al-Assad’s regime rejected Jerusalem’s requests to receive his body or exchange it for Syrian prisoners held in Israel.
The report isn’t verified and doesn’t offer more details.
- Politics and the War and General News
Mother of Nova victim dies by suicide 2 years after Oct. 7 onslaught
Yelena Giler, 56, mother of Slava Giler, who was murdered at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, died by suicide on Thursday, two days after the second anniversary of the massacre, Hebrew media reports.
“From that dark day, she was never the same,” wrote Slava’s brother, Alex “Sasha” Giler, in a social media post.
Slava was laid to rest in Karmiel two years ago. Yelena is set to be buried beside him today at the Karmiel Cemetery, according to Israel Hayom. The public is invited to attend, pay their respects, and offer support to the family.
Her death came one day before Roei Shalev, a Nova survivor, also died by suicide on Friday night.
It does not stop: the mother of Slava Giller, who was murdered at Nova, ended her life – “could not bear the pain anymore”:
At this hour, at the cemetery in Karmiel, the funeral of Yelena Giller, of blessed memory, who ended her life, is taking place.
Yelena is the mother of Slava Giller, of blessed memory, who was murdered at the Nova party on the seventh of October.
For two years the pain was hard, but after the two-year memorial day the mother could no longer bear the pain and took her own life.
This morning the Chevra Kadisha demanded from the family 24,000 shekels in order to bury the mother next to her son, and the family turned to the networks for help, and thus the story was revealed.
After the post went viral, the price dropped to 4,000.
May her memory be blessed.Today, there are over 70 Nova survivors who have been medically recognized in danger of suicide. Prior to the war, the mental health services was greatly below what was needed and it was felt post Covid. The war has changed the situation so much, with so many in the country suffering from trauma which, now with the end of the war will become post trauma and overwhelming suicide rates of soldiers, reservists, survivors and families of the victims. The Health Ministry has already been allowing students of psychology and social work to work with people in clinical war but the government now and in the future has to allocate large increases in mental health support and even if they do, we will still have so many suffer from the costs of this horrible war. Let us hope that the recognition of the problem will help in identifying people before they take their lives out of total desperation.
- In response to the right wing politicians attacks on all of the people at Hostage Square on Saturday night who booed when Steve Witkoff began praising Netanyahu:
Major (res.) Yaya Fink, one of the leaders of the protest:
“What is the problem with shouting ‘boo’ in a democratic country?
Problem is to walk with a coffin at the Ra’anana junction,
problem is to shoot three bullets at a sitting prime minister.
Nachshon Wachsman was kidnapped under the responsibility of Rabin – he went to the family, called every Saturday night to apologize, and Netanyahu attacks those who demonstrate for the release of the hostages.” link The Hostages' Families' Headquarters in response to Minister Miri Regev's directive
To remove the yellow flags and the signs of support for the hostages across the country, allegedly:
As far as there is a directive to remove signs of support from junctions across the country,
precisely on the day the state is preparing for their return,
we demand that it be cancelled immediately and that it not be allowed to make people forget the 48 hostages.The 48 hostages (male) and the hostage (female) have not yet returned.
The yellow flags and the signs bearing their pictures are not a stain to be removed - they are the symbol of an entire people who chose the hostages and fought for their return for 737 days, in all corners of the country.Attempts by the Government of Israel to make history be forgotten, and to make the hostages be forgotten, must be rejected.
It is not over until the last hostage ๐️
Until then, we will continue to fly the flags, to cry out for them - and to remind everyone:
- The Region and the World
Officials: Egypt summit to see 4 guarantors endorse ‘broad principles’ of Trump’s Gaza plan; Israel, PA not invited
At tomorrow’s summit of world leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh, co-chaired by US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey are expected to sign off on the “broad principles” of Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, a Trump administration official tells The Times of Israel.
The event, which will host more than 20 international leaders, aims for the four guarantors of Trump’s plan to “agree to the very broad principles” of the current 20-point framework. The focus of the event, according to the official, is to solidify the backing from guarantors of the deal — “not the parties” — noting that otherwise, representatives from Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority would need to be present.
Israel was not invited to the event, a separate source tells The Times of Israel.
A request from the Palestinian Authority to Sissi to get an invitation went unanswered, the US official adds. Iran does not appear on a formal list of invitees seen by the official, though Axios reported that Tehran was also invited to the summit.
The summit also “could tee up a wider movement toward normalization” with Israel in the region, a shared goal of Israel and the Trump administration, the official adds.
An Egyptian presidential spokesperson said yesterday that the summit aims “to end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and usher in a new era of regional security and stability.”
- Personal Stories
Father of Nova survivor who committed suicide pleads for help: 'Families are shattered, survivors barely holding on'
Ronen Shalev, whose son Roi survived the Nova massacre but took his own life, calls for a national emergency response for survivors and families; 'There are 4,000 shattered families,' he said, 'This crisis needs immediate action'
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
Join my Whatsapp update group https://chat.whatsapp.com/IQ3OtwE6ydxBeBAxWNziB0
Twitter - @LonnyB58 Bluesky - @lonny-b.bsky.social
My blogs in The Times of Israel my blogs
Substack - https://lonnyb.substack.com/
Twitter - @LonnyB58
My blogs in The Times of Israel my blogs
Substack - https://lonnyb.substack.com/
#BringThemHomeNow #TurnTheHorrorIntoHope
Comments
Post a Comment