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Hamas Releases Chilling New Propaganda Video of Three Israeli Hostages, Says Will Reveal Their ‘Fate’ Soon
Liora Argamani, mother of hostage Noa Argamani, 26, who was filmed as she was being abducted during the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, attends a gathering held to honor her daughter, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 23, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Shir Torem
Hamas on Sunday released a new video showing three Israeli hostages who the Palestinian terror group was holding in the Gaza Strip, teasing their “fate” would be revealed soon.
The video, part of what Israel has described as Hamas’ psychological warfare since the outbreak of war in October, contained undated, edited-together clips of Noa Argamani, 26, Itay Svirsky, 38, and Yossi Sharabi, 53 identifying themselves to the camera.
The 37-second clip, which marked 100 days since the hostages’ abduction, ended with the chyron: “Tomorrow we will inform you of their fate.” As of this writing, it is unclear whether the three captives are alive.
Videos such as the one released on Sunday are considered part of an effort by Hamas to create distress within Israeli society. Most Israeli media outlets have not aired such videos, which have included troubling clips of the hostages as well as of Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage, in which Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 240 others as hostages to Gaza.
Argamani became known after footage was shown of her being kidnapped at the Nova music festival alongside her boyfriend, Avinatan Or. They were last seen being taken away by terrorists on a motorcycle from the festival where 364 civilians were killed and 40 abducted as hostages.
Argamani’s mother, Liora, has terminal cancer and has made pleas in international forums calling for her daughter’s release. On Sunday, she told a rally: “I hope I will be able to see her before my last day.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that he reached out to China for assistance on behalf of Liora, who is a Chinese citizen.
Svirsky was visiting Kibbutz Beeri on the day of the Oct. 7 massacre when he was kidnapped. His parents, Orit and Rafi, were among the 130 residents of the Gaza border town murdered by terrorists that day.
Sharabi was also taken hostage from Kibbutz Beeri alongside his brother and their 18-year-old family member Ofir, who was released during a temporary Israel-Hamas ceasefire in November.
Hamas is still holding over 130 hostages, according to the Israeli government, with some believed to have been killed by the terrorists in captivity.
On the 100-day anniversary of their capture, Israelis gathered across the country to express their solidarity with the plight of the hostages. Throughout the day, Israeli radio and television were filled with testimonies by family members about their kidnapped loved ones, pleading for the government to do everything to bring them home.
Jerusalem has made it a top priority of the war to bring home all the hostages and has vowed to continue fighting, despite international pressure, to achieve that objective.
Before the video’s release on Sunday, Hamas said it had lost contact with some hostages as Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza, adding that they might have been killed.
“The fate of many of the enemy’s hostages and detainees has become unknown in recent weeks and the rest are all in the tunnel of the unknown due to the Zionist aggression,” Hamas spokesperson Abu Obeida said in a televised statement. “Most likely, many of them were killed recently, the rest are in great danger every hour, and the enemy’s leadership and army bear full responsibility.”
The post Hamas Releases Chilling New Propaganda Video of Three Israeli Hostages, Says Will Reveal Their ‘Fate’ Soon first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Two of Four Israeli Soldiers Killed in Gaza Building Collapse Identified
Tom Rothstein and the late Uri Jonathan Cohen / Photo: Israeli army spokesman
i24 News – Four Israeli soldiers were killed on Friday in the collapse of a building in Khan Younis during a military operation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The incident occurred during an offensive by the 98th Division targeting Hamas infrastructure in northern Khan Younis, near Bani Suheila.
The fallen soldiers were identified as Staff Sergeant Tom Rotstein, 23, from Ramat Gan; Staff Sergeant Uri Yehonatan Cohen, 20, from Neve Yarok; Reserve Staff Sergeant Chen Gross, 33; and Staff Sergeant Yoav Rovor, 19. All served in the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit.
According to IDF sources, the soldiers were part of a mission to secure a Hamas compound believed to contain underground tunnels. A powerful explosive device detonated during the operation, causing the structure to partially collapse and trap the soldiers inside.
Five additional soldiers were wounded—one seriously and four moderately. They were airlifted to hospitals, while search and recovery teams from the Home Front Command worked for hours to extract the bodies from the rubble.
This latest incident brings the total number of Israeli military fatalities to eight this week alone, raising the overall death toll to 424 since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza.
Earlier this week, three soldiers from the Rotem Battalion of the Givati Brigade were killed by an improvised explosive device in the northern Gaza Strip. Reserve Staff Sergeant Alon Perkas, 27, also died during separate combat in the Shejaiya neighborhood.
The IDF continues its operations in Gaza as military and political leaders navigate the high costs of an enduring conflict with Hamas.
The post Two of Four Israeli Soldiers Killed in Gaza Building Collapse Identified 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.
The post Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.
The post Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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