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☆ Israel sharpens warning to Lebanon as cross-border hostilities spike
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-12 | by ( Dan Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The chief Israeli military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, described Hezbollah as "the defender of Hamas-ISIS", in reference to the Islamist Palestinian faction whose cross-border rampage against Israel on Oct. 7 sparked a devastating Gaza war. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday described the Israel front as "active". A rocket set off sirens near the Israeli port city of Haifa, 27 km (17 miles) from the Lebanese border, but caused no casualties. Smoke rises as seen from Israel-Lebanon border in northern Israel, November 12, 2023. Residents of villages and towns on the Lebanese border have evacuated southward even as Gaza border communities hit by Hamas emptied, making for some 250,000 internally displaced Israelis.

Persons: Daniel Hagari, Hassan Nasrallah, Israel, Evelyn Hockstein, Rights Israel, Hagari, Antonio Guterres, Fareed Zakaria, Guterres, Maayan Lubell, Crispian Balmer, Giles Elgood Organizations: ISIS, Palestinian, Saturday, Sunday, Lebanese, REUTERS, Rights, IDF, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza, Haifa, Lebanese, Lebanon, Beirut, Iran

☆ Israel Says Palestinian Authority in Current Form Should Not Run Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-12 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

By Crispian BalmerJERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thrown up more doubts about the future of the Gaza Strip, suggesting that the Palestinian Authority in its current form should not take charge of the coastal enclave. Israel has vowed to destroy Palestinian group Hamas, which governs Gaza, following its shock Oct. 7 cross-border assault, and has launched a full-scale invasion of the territory. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Abbas, told Reuters the Israelis were seeking to perpetuate divisions between the two Palestinian territories -- the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza. "Israeli attempts to separate Gaza from the West Bank will fail, and it will not be allowed, regardless of the pressures," he said. The PA used to run both the West Bank and Gaza, but got ousted from the latter in 2007 after a brief civil war with Hamas.

Persons: Crispian Balmer JERUSALEM, Benjamin Netanyahu, Antony J, Blinken, Mahmoud Abbas, Netanyahu, Israel, Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Emily Rose, Ali Sawafta, William Maclean Organizations: Palestinian Authority, Hamas, West, Reuters, West Bank Locations: Gaza, Israel, Washington, West Bank, Jerusalem, Ramallah

An Israeli military spokesperson said Hamas had lost control of northern Gaza. The Israeli military said 46 had been killed since its ground operations there began. ISRAEL SAYS IT WILL HELP EVACUATE BABIESIsrael's chief military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the Israeli military would help evacuate babies from the hospital. "The staff of the Shifa hospital has requested that tomorrow we help the babies in the pediatric department to get to a safer hospital. 'TOTALLY SCARY ATMOSPHERE'Ahmed al-Mokhallalati, a senior plastic surgeon at Al Shifa, told Reuters there had been continuous bombardment for more than 24 hours.

Persons: Netanyahu, Benjamin Netanyahu, Al Shifa, Ashraf Al, Qidra, Moshe Tetro, Daniel Hagari, Israel, Avi Dichter, Dichter, Ahmed al, Al Shati, Al Nasr, Ahmed Siam, Al, Nidal al, Maytaan, Maytaal Angel, Emily Rose Jerusalem, Crispian Balmer, Ari Rabinovitch, Adam Makary, Omar Abdel, David Brunnstrom, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Palestinian, Hamas, Israeli Defense Forces, Reuters, Al, Medical, Israel Defense Forces, Quds Brigades, Thomson Locations: Gaza, GAZA, JERUSALEM, Gaza's, Rafah, Egypt, Israeli, Israel, Tel Aviv, Gaza City, COGAT, ISRAEL, Al, Quds, Al Shifa, Al Nasr, London, Brussels, Saudi Arabia

☆ As Fighting Rages, Israel Says Ready to Evacuate Babies From Gaza's Main Hospital
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-11 | by ( Nov. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +7 min

The Israeli military said 46 had been killed since its ground operations there began. ISRAEL SAYS IT WILL HELP EVACUATE BABIESIsrael's chief military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said the Israeli military would help evacuate babies from the hospital. "The staff of the Shifa hospital has requested that tomorrow we help the babies in the pediatric department to get to a safer hospital. Medical staff say patients could die if they are moved and Palestinian officials say Israeli fire makes it dangerous for others to leave. 'TOTALLY SCARY ATMOSPHERE'Ahmed al-Mokhallalati, a senior plastic surgeon at Al Shifa, told Reuters there had been continuous bombardment for more than 24 hours.

Persons: Nidal, Emily Rose, Maayan, newsborns, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Al Shifa, Ashraf Al, Qidra, Moshe Tetro, Daniel Hagari, Israel, Avi Dichter, Dichter, Ahmed al, Al Shati, Al Nasr, Ahmed Siam, Al, Nidal al, Maytaan, Maytaal Angel, Emily Rose Jerusalem, Crispian Balmer, Ari Rabinovitch, Adam Makary, Omar Abdel, David Brunnstrom, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Al, Reuters, Medical, Israel Defense Forces, Quds Brigades Locations: GAZA, JERUSALEM, Gaza's, Rafah, Egypt, Gaza, Israeli, Israel, Tel Aviv, Gaza City, COGAT, ISRAEL, Al, Quds, Al Shifa, Al Nasr, London, Brussels, Saudi Arabia

☆ Israeli military says it will help evacuate babies from Gaza hospital
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians take shelter at Al Shifa hospital, amid the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel, in Gaza City, November 8, 2023. REUTERS/Doaa Rouqa/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsTEL AVIV, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The Israeli military will help evacuate babies trapped in Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital on Sunday, Chief Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Saturday. "The staff of the Shifa hospital has requested that tomorrow we help the babies in the pediatric department to get to a safer hospital. We will provide the assistance needed," Hagari told a news conference. Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Crispian BalmerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Doaa, Gaza's, Daniel Hagari, Hagari, Maayan Lubell, Crispian Balmer Organizations: REUTERS, Gaza's Al Shifa Hospital, Sunday, Thomson Locations: Al Shifa, Israel, Gaza City, TEL AVIV, Israeli, Gaza's Al Shifa

☆ Israel revises Hamas attack death toll to 'around 1,200'
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

People commemorate the victims of October 7 Hamas' attack in front of Brandenburg gate, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, in Berlin, Germany, November 7, 2023. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsJERUSALEM, Nov 10 (Reuters) - A spokesperson for Israel's foreign ministry said on Friday that the death toll from the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel had been revised to around 1,200 from a previous government estimate of 1,400. "Around 1,200 is the official number of victims of the October 7 massacre," spokesperson Lior Haiat said in a written statement. The death count, which includes foreigners, "is not a final number. It (is) an updated estimate.

Persons: Fabrizio Bensch, Lior Haiat, Haiat, Henriette Chacar, Crispian Balmer, Diane Craft Organizations: Palestinian, Hamas, REUTERS, Rights, Thomson Locations: Brandenburg, Israel, Berlin, Germany

☆ HonestReporting accepts news groups had no prior warning of Oct. 7 Hamas attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Crispian Balmer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

HonestReporting's Gil Hoffman told Reuters his organisation had not claimed to know that there had been any prior knowledge by the news groups of the Hamas attack. "I was so relieved when all four of the media organisations said they didn't have prior knowledge," Hoffman said in an interview by telephone about the article. "I still very much think that the questions were legitimate and the answers were adequate from the media organisations themselves." Reacting to the HonestReporting article posted on X, the Israeli Foreign Ministry had described the use of the various images by the four news groups as "a serious violation of journalistic ethics." Despite HonestReporting's suggestions that the Palestinian photojournalists had secured their images in coordination with Hamas, he said he was "happy" their pictures had been published.

Persons: Esa Alexander, HonestReporting, HonestReporting's Gil Hoffman, Hoffman, Benjamin Netanyahu's, Danny Danon, photojournalists, Crispian Balmer, Edmund Blair Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Associated Press, CNN, The New York Times, Palestinian, Israeli Foreign Ministry, Likud, United Nations, AP, Jerusalem Post, HonestReporting, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, Palestinian, Beirut, Lebanon, Israeli

☆ Believed dead, then alive in Gaza - father of child hostage clings to hope
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Eli Berlzon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"Unofficial reports came in that she was found dead in the kibbutz," said Hand, who is now living in a hotel on the Dead Sea with others evacuated from Be'eri. I was relieved that she was dead and it was all over, it would have been pretty quick." Many were shot with their families or found dead with their hands bound. "Crazy thought, for a parent to say but, yeah, it was a relief thinking that she wasn't in Gaza." She's going to be 9 in the tunnels," he said.

Persons: Tom Hand, Emily, Israel's, Hand, Emily's, Liat, Hand's, Narkis, Thomas Hand, Emily Hand, She'll, Beyonce, she's, James Mackenzie, Crispian Balmer, Howard Goller Organizations: Gaza, Hamas, Reuters, DISNEY, Disney, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza, Be'eri, Palestinian, American

☆ Israel strikes Syria after drone hits southern Eilat city - Israeli military
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JERUSALEM, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Israel's military said an organisation in Syria launched a drone that hit a school in the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Thursday and that it struck the group in response. The military did not say what organisation in Syria had launched the drone toward Eilat, on the Red Sea approximately 400 kms (250 miles) from the nearest point in Syrian territory. Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement has launched repeated missile and drone attacks on Israel since Oct. 7, all of which were either shot down or fell short. Israel has boosted its naval presence in the Red Sea to better protect its southern shores, while the United States also has a significant amount of naval power in the region. Eilat is the Israel's main commercial gateway through the Red Sea.

Persons: Daniel Mueller, Mueller, Emily Rose, Jonathan Saul, Maytaal Angel, Rami Ayyub, Crispian Balmer, Alex Richardson, Daniel Wallis, Michael Perry Organizations: Patriot, Hamas, Thomson Locations: Syria, Eilat, Yemen's Iran, Israel, Yemen, Negev, United States, Ashkelon, Gaza, Ambrey, Ashdod

☆ Islamic Jihad group in Gaza shows new hostage video
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Israeli troops manoeuvre near the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from the southern Israel, November 9, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein Acquire Licensing RightsJERUSALEM, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The armed wing of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad in Gaza released a video on Thursday showing an elderly woman and a young boy who were among around 240 hostages seized by militant gunmen who attacked Israel on Oct. 7. It said it was prepared to release the two for humanitarian and medical reasons once appropriate conditions were met. Gaza-based Palestinian militants seized the hostages during an assault on southern Israeli communities that killed some 1,400 Israelis and foreigners, the Israeli military has said. In the video, the elderly woman said she missed her children.

Persons: Evelyn Hockstein, Israel, Nidal Al Mughrabi, Emily Rose, Yomna, Enas Alashray, Jana Choukier, Crispian Balmer, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Islamic, Palestinian, Gaza, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza

☆ Islamic Jihad Group in Gaza Shows New Hostage Video
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The armed wing of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad in Gaza released a video on Thursday showing an elderly woman and a young boy who were among around 240 hostages seized by militant gunmen who attacked Israel on Oct. 7. It said it was prepared to release the two for humanitarian and medical reasons once appropriate conditions were met. Gaza-based Palestinian militants seized the hostages during an assault on southern Israeli communities that killed some 1,400 Israelis and foreigners, the Israeli military has said. The vast majority are believed to be in the hands of Hamas, but Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group in Gaza that is allied to the territory's ruling movement, has said previously it held at least 30 captives. The video is the third film of hostages to be released by Gaza militants, who have so far freed four captives - the last couple a pair of 85-year-old women who returned to Israel on Oct. 23.

Persons: Israel, Nidal Al Mughrabi, Emily Rose, Yomna, Enas Alashray, Jana Choukier, Crispian Balmer, Mark Heinrich Organizations: Islamic, Palestinian, Gaza Locations: JERUSALEM, Gaza, Israel

☆ Israeli military says unidentified drone hits southern city of Eilat
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, Nov 9 (Reuters) - An unidentified drone hit a civilian building in the southern Israeli port city of Eilat, the Israeli military said on Thursday, causing only light damage and no injuries. In recent weeks, the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen has launched repeated missile and drone attacks on Israel, but all were either shot down or fell short. Such premiums have soared 10-fold in recent weeks, adding tens of thousands of dollars to every voyage, industry sources say. The southern Mediterranean port of Ashkelon, which is closest to Gaza, has closed in recent weeks with at least one oil tanker diverted to Eilat. "This would be the first confirmed damage within the city of Eilat since the October 7 hostilities commenced.

Persons: Daniel Mueller, Ambrey, Emily Rose, Jonathan Saul, Maytaal Angel, Crispian Balmer, Alex Richardson, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Hezbollah, Hamas, Thomson Locations: Eilat, Iran, Yemen, Israel, United States, Ashkelon, Gaza, U.S, Ashdod

☆ More questions than answers as Israeli PM Netanyahu seeks security control over Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( James Mackenzie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference with defense minister Yoav Gallant and Cabinet minister Benny Gantz in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv , Israel , 28 October 2023. The challenges that are likely to confront any reshaped Israeli security mechanism have already been clearly demonstrated during more than 18 months of increasingly violent clashes in the nearby occupied West Bank. The PA used to run both Gaza and the West Bank, but was forcibly ousted from Gaza by Hamas in 2007, and now only governs sections of the West Bank, which is dotted with ever-growing Jewish settlements. Dermer said that while Israeli troops had physically entered West Bank towns, they had essentially been absent from Gaza for the last 17 years. Jordan's former deputy prime minister, Marwan Muasher, told Reuters he had seen no convincing initiative on how Gaza might be governed once the conflict ended.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Benny Gantz, Benjamin Netanyahu's, Israel, Netanyahu, Gantz, Ron Dermer, Antony Blinken, It's, Ariel Sharon, Mohammad Shtayyeh, Dermer, Jordan's, Marwan Muasher, Muasher, James Mackenzie, John Geddie, Crispian Balmer, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Rights, U.S, NBC, United Nations, Israel, West Bank, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian, Reuters, Carnegie Endowment, International Peace, Thomson Locations: Tel Aviv, Israel, ABIR, Gaza, Palestinian, United States, Tokyo, West, Oslo, Nablus, Jenin, West Bank, Washington, Dubai

REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBE'ERI, Israel, Nov 8 (Reuters) - In a now-roofless, burnt-out house in kibbutz Be'eri, Israeli archaeological teams are sifting through ashes and rubble. They're looking for human remains, hoping to identify victims still missing a month on from the deadly Hamas attack. Be'eri is one of the communities hardest hit by the Hamas gunmen who burst through the Israel-Gaza border on Oct. 7, killing around 1,400 people and taking more than 240 hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Twisted, mangled cars still line the paths of the kibbutz, some houses stand gutted by fire, others are pierced by bullets. So far they have helped identify 10 victims, they say, leaving an estimated 25 people still unaccounted for.

Persons: Ronen, Nir Oz, Joe Uziel, Dedi Hayun, Maayan, Crispian Balmer Organizations: candlestick, REUTERS, Rescue, Israel Antiquities Authority, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Kibbutz Be'eri, Israel, Be'eri, Aza, Jerusalem

GAZA, Nov 8 (Reuters) - The Israeli air strike hit Mohammed Hamdan's Gaza home soon after Islam's evening prayer on Tuesday, he said, killing 35 members of his extended family across three generations from Kamal, aged 70, to Rasmi, aged seven. The Hamdan family is one of many in Gaza eviscerated by an unprecedented air and artillery bombardment that has killed more than 10,000 people according to health authorities in the tiny, crowded, Hamas-run enclave. Israel's military has entirely encircled northern Gaza under cover of a weeks-long barrage that has also pounded southern areas such as Khan Younis, where the Hamdan family lived. [1/3]Palestinian Mohammed Hamdan, who lost 35 family members of three generations in an Israeli air strike, stands on the rubble of his family home that was destroyed in the strike, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip November 7, 2023. Through those hard decades the Hamdan family expanded and its Khan Younis home was the centre of its life.

Persons: Mohammed Hamdan's, Kamal, Hamdan, Malak, Ahmed, Khan Younis, Israel's, Israel, Mohammed Hamdan, Mohammed Salem, Abu, Abu Sultan, Tala, Nidal al, Angus McDowall, Crispian Balmer, Alex Richardson Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: GAZA, Mohammed Hamdan's Gaza, Rasmi, Gaza, Palestinian, Egypt, Israel, Sila

☆ Israeli army shows devastation in northern Gaza as invasion grinds on
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Ronen Zvulun | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Wherever you look in northern Gaza, you see destruction and desolation a month into Israel's military campaign to oust Hamas from the enclave. Israeli forces entered Gaza on Oct. 27 after days of heavy bombardment in response to a surprise Hamas attack through the border fence on Oct. 7, which Israel says killed 1,400 people. Reuters footage shot during the 1-1/2-hour tour on Wednesday was reviewed by the Israeli army as a condition for having a journalist embedded. According to latest figures released on Wednesday, 31 Israeli soldiers have been killed during the Gaza ground offensive, and more than 260 injured. Palestinian officials say 10,569 people have been killed by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, 40% of them children.

Persons: Ido, It's, Israel, Ronen Zvulun, Crispian Balmer, Grant McCool Organizations: Palestinian, Hamas, REUTERS, 401st, Thomson Locations: Gaza, GAZA, Gaza City, Israel

REUTERS/Joseph Campbell Acquire Licensing RightsSHEFAYIM, Israel, Nov 6 (Reuters) - It's been a month since Avihai Brodutch spoke with his wife, Hagar. Hamas gunmen took her and their three children into Gaza in their deadly assault on Israeli villages on Oct 7. His family was abducted from Kfar Aza, a kibbutz around 3 km (2 miles) from Gaza. All he can do now, Brodutch says, is tell his family's story, wherever he can, to whomever he can. So, now I've got nothing," he said while children ran around the hotel garden of Shefayim, an Israeli kibbutz which is hosting many survivors, including Brodutch.

Persons: Brodutch, Joseph Campbell, It's, Avihai Brodutch, Hagar, Ofri, Yuval, Uriah, Kfar, I've, Brodutch's, somebody's, Rodney, I'm, It’s, Maayan Lubell, Crispian Balmer, Christina Fincher Organizations: Reuters, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Kfar Aza, Shefayim, Israel, Gaza, Israeli, Tel Aviv, I'm

☆ More Than Half of Hamas' Hostages Have Foreign Nationality - Israel
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Oct. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - More than half the estimated 220 hostages held by Palestinian group Hamas have foreign passports from 25 different countries, including 54 Thai nationals, the Israeli government said on Wednesday. Israel said 138 of the hostages had foreign passports, including 15 Argentinians, 12 Germans, 12 Americans, six French and six Russians. Many were believed to have had dual Israeli nationality, however some, like the Thais and five Nepalese hostages, almost certainly did not. Thais also made up the largest single group of foreign dead and missing, with 24 confirmed killed and 21 unaccounted for. Five Chinese citizens were killed and one was missing, while Nepal had five killed and five missing.

Persons: Israel, Thais, Crispian Balmer, Rod Nickel Organizations: Hamas Locations: JERUSALEM, Palestinian, Israel, Sri Lankan, Tanzania, Philippines, Thailand, United States, Ukraine, France, Russia, Nepal

☆ Netanyahu says Israel is preparing ground invasion of Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Israel is preparing a ground invasion of Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement on Wednesday, but he declined to provide any details on the timing or other information about the operation. "We have already killed thousands of terrorists and this is only the beginning," Netanyahu said. "Simultaneously, we are preparing for a ground invasion. Israel has carried out days of intense bombardment of the densely populated Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli communities that killed some 1,400 people. Earlier, citing U.S. and Israeli officials, the Wall Street Journal reported that Israel had agreed to delay the invasion of Gaza for now, so the United States could rush missile defences to the region.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Israel, Washington, Henriette Chacar, James Mackenzie, Crispian Balmer, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Hamas, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Palestinian, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza, United States, Qatar

☆ Why is Israel attacking south Gaza after telling people to go there?
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A woman stands near a bullet-riddled wall in Zahajra, near the border with Israel, in southern Lebanon October 10, 2023. Since telling Gazans to head south, the Israeli military (IDF) has continued to pound targets across the area, killing an unknown number of civilians. That's why we are asking civilians to go south of the Gaza River." Israel has massed troops on the border with Gaza and is widely expected to launch a land invasion. On Oct. 18, the military urged residents of Gaza to evacuate to what it called a humanitarian zone in Al Mawasi, on the coast of southern Gaza.

Persons: Mohamed Azakir, Gazans, Khan Younis, Jonathan Conricus, Israel, Hamas's, Antonio Guterres, Crispian Balmer, James Mackenzie, Nick Macfie Organizations: REUTERS, Residents, IDF, Military, Hamas, United Nations Office, Humanitarian Affairs, Thomson Locations: Zahajra, Israel, Lebanon, Gaza, Gaza City, Khan, Israeli, Al Mawasi, Gaza's, Egypt

☆ Freed Israeli hostage says Hamas treated her well after initial violence
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Janis Laizans | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

TEL AVIV, Oct 24 (Reuters) - An elderly Israeli hostage who was released by Hamas overnight said she had been beaten by the militants when she was abducted and taken to Gaza on Oct. 7, but was then treated well during her two-week captivity in the Palestinian enclave. Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, was one of two women freed late on Monday, leaving around 220 hostages still in the hands of Hamas, including both of their husbands. "I've been through hell," Lifshitz told reporters, speaking in barely a whisper and seated in a wheelchair outside the Tel Aviv hospital, where she was taken following her release. Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, an Israeli grandmother who was held hostage in Gaza, speaks to members of the press after being released by Hamas militants, at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, Israel October 24, 2023. Inside Gaza, a group of hostages were led into what Lifshitz called a "spider's web" of tunnels that Hamas had built beneath the coastal territory.

Persons: Yocheved Lifshitz, I've, Lifshitz, Nir Oz, Kan, Nir Oz's, Janis Laizans, Henriette Chacar, Crispian Balmer, Kevin Liffey, Bernadette Baum Organizations: Hamas, Ichilov, REUTERS, Reuters, Thomson Locations: TEL AVIV, Gaza, Yocheved, Tel Aviv, Israel

☆ Israel's Holocaust survivors struggle with Gaza war as trauma deepens
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Jonathan Saul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/4] People look up at the damage caused when a rocket, fired from Gaza towards Israel, at a Holocaust museum at a Kibbutz near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel, October 24, 2023. Blumenfeld, 89, is one of tens of thousands of elderly survivors of the Nazi Holocaust who live in Israel and are once again facing up to the reality of war, with more than 220 Israelis taken hostage in Gaza. "I went through the Holocaust and all the wars, but it is not like before, the noise is deafening. According to the latest study published in April by the government's Holocaust Survivors' Rights Authority, there were 147,199 survivors in Israel, with an average age of 85, including 462 who were over 100. "To say that it's worse than the Nazis, I think that's the worst trigger for a Holocaust survivor."

Persons: Violeta Santos Moura, Sarina Blumenfeld, Blumenfeld, Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Rivkah, Neot Mordechai, Israel, Har Arieh, Shelly Feigenblat, Jonathan Saul, Rami Amichai, Amar Awad, Crispian Balmer, Gareth Jones Organizations: REUTERS, Islamists, Nazi Holocaust, Reuters, Hamas, Hezbollah, Gaza's Health, ' Rights Authority, Foundation for, Welfare of Holocaust, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, Israel's, Israel New Gaza, ASHDOD, Ashdod, Europe, Neot, Lebanese, Bulgaria, Tel Aviv

[1/3] People react as residents of Tel Aviv show support and solidarity with the families of hostages who are being held in Gaza in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 21, 2023. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to eliminate Hamas and Israeli troops could enter Gaza at any moment, but many families are urging him to focus solely on the hostages. Israel has a long experience of dealing with hostage crises, but has previously shied away from attempting rescue operations in the densely populated Gaza Strip. Some of the freed Palestinians returned to the ranks of Hamas, including its current leader in Gaza, Yahya Al-Sinwar. We have to help these hostages very fast," said Daniel Lifshitz, whose grandparents, aged 83 and 85, were abducted and have vanished into Gaza.

Persons: Ammar Awad, Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, Noam Alon, Inbar, Isaac Herzog, Carmel Gorni, Yiftah Gorni, Gorni, Ilan, Sandy Feldman, Herzog, Keith Siegel, Jonathan Dekel, Chen, Sagui, Netanyahu, Gilad Shalit, Yahya Al, Shalit, Gal Hirsch, Daniel Lifshitz, Crispian Balmer, Alison Williams Organizations: REUTERS, U.S, Aviva, Reuters, Hamas, Thomson Locations: Tel Aviv, Gaza, Israel, Gaza Israel, Jerusalem, Palestinian, Qatar, Qatari

Pope Francis leads the Angelus prayer from his window at the Vatican, October 22, 2023. In his call with Pope Francis, Biden, who is a Catholic, condemned the attack by Hamas and affirmed the need to protect civilians in Gaza, the White House said. They also discussed Biden's recent visit to Israel and efforts for delivery of food, medicine, and other humanitarian assistance in Gaza, according to the White House. The pope has several times called for the release of hostages taken by Hamas during its Oct. 7 attack. "Brothers, stop," Pope Francis said.

Persons: Pope Francis, Joe Biden, Biden, Antony Blinken, Francis, Peter's, Pope Francis said, Kanishka Singh, Crispian Balmer, Andrea Ricci Organizations: Vatican, Handout, REUTERS Acquire, WASHINGTON, VATICAN CITY, Sunday, Hamas, White, United, Food Program, Thomson Locations: VATICAN, Israel, Palestinian, Gaza, St, Washington, Vatican City

"Children ... have started to develop serious trauma symptoms such as convulsions, bed-wetting, fear, aggressive behaviour, nervousness, and not leaving their parents' sides," said Gaza psychiatrist Fadel Abu Heen. More than 4,100 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza so far, including more than 1,500 children, while 13,000 people have been injured according to the Palestinian health ministry. Conditions in makeshift shelters in United Nations schools, where more than 380,000 people are camped out in hope of escaping the bombardment, only compound the problem. They cry all night, they pee themselves without meaning to and I don't have time to clean up after them, one after the other," said Tahreer Tabash, a mother of six children sheltering in a school. A 2022 report by aid group Save the Children found the psychosocial wellbeing of children in Gaza at "alarmingly low levels" after 11 days of fighting in 2021, leaving half of all Gaza children in need of support.

Persons: Khan Younis, Mohammed Salem, Fadel Abu Heen, Tahreer Tabash, Tabash, Abu Heen, Ibrahim al, Agha, Nidal al, Angus McDowall, Crispian Balmer, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: United Nations, REUTERS, Israel Little, Hamas, Thomson Locations: Gaza, GAZA, U.N, Israel, Gaza City, Abo, wailed

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