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How Olim Are Helping Israel’s War Effort, Part 2: A War Room Providing Soldiers With Critical Supplies
Friends in Jaffa co-founder Raphael Danan (right) and volunteer Jacob Herriots with IDF soldiers who had put in a request for a small refrigerator for medical supplies for their trauma unit. Photo courtesy of Friends in Jaffa.
Since the Hamas terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre, immigrants who moved to Israel (olim in Hebrew) have been helping the Jewish state’s war effort in crucial ways beyond the battlefield. The Algemeiner has spoken to several of these individuals — natives of the US, Europe, and elsewhere — gathering their stories of courage and resourcefulness to help Israel prevail over Hamas in Gaza. Over the coming weeks, The Algemeiner will share some of these stories as a new series on how olim are helping Israel’s war effort. To read part one, click here.
On Oct. 8, Raphael Danan, a British-Israeli resident of Jaffa, spoke to a close friend who was one of 300,000 reservists who had been called up a day earlier. The friend ended the call with what seemed like an inconsequential gripe in light of the profound horror that had just taken place. “We don’t have toothpaste or toothbrushes,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier complained.
It prompted Danan to reach out to local WhatsApp groups and start a fundraising drive to procure basic supplies for the soldiers — items like socks and undershirts. The next day, Danan and another volunteer made their first supply run to a base. More than two months later, the volunteer-run group, called Friends in Jaffa (FiJ), is still going strong and, to date, has donated thousands of supplies to soldiers — anything from gloves to tactical gear like tourniquets.
Volunteers either procure the items for free or raise funds for a particular project. In some cases, the supplies themselves come from a particular Jewish community in the US. The Jewish community of Miami, for example, donated 500 military-grade rain suits. But no less important than the suits were the notes to the soldiers written by children in the community. “The soldiers were so, so happy to receive them,” said Amelia Bagnoli, an FiJ volunteer originally from Canada.
Former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren lauded the group’s efforts, saying they were “crucial for our forces in the field.”
“[The soldiers] have great needs, needs for various types of equipment that haven’t been supplied by the IDF, and the Friends in Jaffa are working assiduously night and day to supply those needs,” Oren said.
Itai, a company commander stationed on Israel’s northern border, said FiJ had “entered my heart” because they were as efficient as they were compassionate. According to the 29-year-old, who asked that only his first name be used, the IDF has the resources to supply units with what they need, but the process is often laborious and entangled in bureaucracy.
FiJ, on the other hand, takes a comprehensive inventory of what’s needed and can “find a supplier within an hour and can even get [the items] to us within a day,” he said. “The army cannot compete. It can take a week or more.”
Another IDF soldier, Bar Peleg, also lauded the group for its accuracy in servicing the soldiers’ specific needs. “What we ask for is what we get. This is better than other civilian [groups] who have tried to do this but who don’t do this so well, despite their good intentions.”
Itai — who was a resident of Nachal Oz, one of the Gaza-envelope communities that was hit hard on Oct. 7 by Hamas terrorists — added that the supplies sourced by FiJ were of superior quality.
“The [IDF] gear is good enough but it’s not the best. I believe that my soldiers need to get the best and I’m not ashamed to say it,” he said.
Bagnoli explained that proper equipment had the ability to mitigate the “psychological stress” soldiers were under.
“If there’s any way of reducing their stress, even if it’s sleeping on a field bed instead [of the floor] or having dry socks — we were told by commanders that it reduces the chances of PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] later on,” she said.
Danan praised the volunteers’ “incredible fortitude.”
“There is so much determination by the volunteers in doing these missions, but it’s a two-way street. The soldiers’ appreciation creates a really special bond and is more than enough of a reward for us,” he said.
The post How Olim Are Helping Israel’s War Effort, Part 2: A War Room Providing Soldiers With Critical Supplies first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
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