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Kibbutz Confirms Death of Two Israeli Hostages Featured in Latest Hamas Video, Says Bodies Held by Terror Group
The bloodied aftermath of a kindergarten in Kibbutz Be’eri attacked by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7. Photo: Reuters/Amir Cohen
Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel announced on Tuesday that two of its residents, Itay Svirsky and Yossi Sharabi, were killed in Gaza and that their bodies remain in the hands of the Hamas terror group.
“The abductees Itay Svirsky and Yossi Sharabi were murdered in captivity and their bodies are held by Hamas,” kibbutz officials said, calling for their bodies to be returned for burial and for the release of all hostages in Gaza.
Svirsky, 38, and Sharabi, 53, were among the 240 hostages kidnapped by Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists during their Oct. 7 onslaught across southern Israel. The massacre, in which 1,200 people were murdered, triggered the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the Palestinian enclave ruled by the terror group.
Israeli officials have said they will continue their military campaign in Gaza until all the hostages are freed and Hamas is incapacitated to the point that it no longer poses a serious threat to Israel. About 130 hostages remain in Gaza after over 100 were released as part of a temporary Israel-Hamas truce in late November.
Svirsky, Sharabi, and 26-year-old Noa Argamani — who was filmed on now-viral video being abducted from the Nova music festival during Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre — were featured in a chilling video released by Hamas on Sunday. The terror group showed undated, edited-together clips of all three identifying themselves to the camera, describing their plight, and asking to go home.
The 37-second clip, which marked 100 days since the hostages’ abduction, ended with the chyron: “Tomorrow [Monday] we will inform you of their fate.”
Hamas then teased in a follow-up video, released on Monday, that the three hostages could either be killed, injured, or spared, asking viewers for their opinions. The video showed the three hostages’ faces.
“What do you think?” the Palestinian terrorists said of the captives. Hamas then offered three options for the innocent victims: all three are killed; “some are killed, some are injured,” or all three are spared.
It ended with the message: “Tonight we will inform you of their fate.”
Later on Monday, Hamas released a new video of Argamani, evidently under distress and seemingly reading a script in front of a blank white wall, being forced to report that Svirsky and Sharabi were dead. She said that her fellow captives were killed by Israeli air strikes targeting Hamas.
Israel’s chief military spokesperson disputed some of Hamas’ claims, specifying that Svirsky was not killed by Israeli fire.
“Itay was not killed by our forces. This is a Hamas lie. The building where they were held was not a target and was not attacked by our forces,” said IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari. “We don’t attack a place if we know there may be hostages inside.” Hagari noted that areas nearby had been targeted.
The Israeli army reportedly believes that Argamani is alive.
The videos were the latest in what Israel has described as Hamas’ “psychological warfare” and “torment” since the outbreak of war in October, meant to cause distress in Israeli society and pressure Jerusalem to stop its military campaign in Gaza.
Kibbutz Be’eri was one of the hardest hit Israeli communities during the atrocities of Oct. 7. It was almost completely burnt down by Hamas terrorists, who killed about 130 people there — a staggering 10 percent of the kibbutz’s residents. Several others were taken as hostages.
The post Kibbutz Confirms Death of Two Israeli Hostages Featured in Latest Hamas Video, Says Bodies Held by Terror Group first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday
US President Donald Trump attends the Saudi-US Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
US President Donald Trump’s order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States goes into effect at 12:01 am ET (0401 GMT) on Monday, a move the president promulgated to protect the country from “foreign terrorists.”
The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The entry of people from seven other countries – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – will be partially restricted.
Trump, a Republican, said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security, have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.
He cited last Sunday’s incident in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new curbs are needed. But Egypt is not part of the travel ban.
The travel ban forms part of Trump’s policy to restrict immigration into the United States and is reminiscent of a similar move in his first term when he barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned expressed dismay and disbelief.
Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump’s action.
“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride,” he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the U.S. a luxury airplane for Trump’s use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the U.S.
Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban.
Democratic US lawmakers also voiced concern about the policies.
“Trump’s travel ban on citizens from over 12 countries is draconian and unconstitutional,” said US Representative Ro Khanna on social media late on Thursday. “People have a right to seek asylum.”
The post Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a member of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in southern Syria’s Mazraat Beit Jin, days after Israel carried out its first airstrikes in the country in nearly a month.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the strike.
Israel said on Tuesday it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles towards Israel for the first time under the country’s new leadership. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz held Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa accountable.
Damascus in response said reports of the shelling were unverified, reiterating that Syria does not pose a threat to any regional party.
A little known group named “Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades,” an apparent reference to Hamas’ military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024, reportedly claimed responsibility for the shelling. Reuters, however, could not independently verify the claim.
The post Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg
FILE PHOTO: Activist Greta Thunberg sits aboard the aid ship Madleen, which left the Italian port of Catania on June 1 to travel to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, in this picture released on June 2, 2025 on social media. Photo: Freedom Flotilla Coalition/via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told the military on Sunday to stop a charity boat carrying activists including Sweden’s Greta Thunberg who are planning to defy an Israeli blockade and reach Gaza.
Operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the British-flagged Madleen yacht set sail from Sicily on June 6 and is currently off the Egyptian coast, heading slowly towards the Gaza Strip, which is besieged by Israel.
“I instructed the IDF to act so that the Madleen .. does not reach Gaza,” Katz said in a statement.
“To the antisemitic Greta and her Hamas-propaganda-spouting friends, I say clearly: You’d better turn back, because you will not reach Gaza.”
Climate activist Thunberg said she joined the Madleen crew to “challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes” in Gaza and highlight the urgent need for humanitarian aid. She has rejected previous Israeli accusations of antisemitism.
Israel went to war with Hamas in October 2023 after the Islamist terrorists launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing more 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to the enclave.
Katz said the blockade was essential to Israel’s national security as it seeks to eliminate Hamas.
“The State of Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade on Gaza, whose primary purpose is to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas,” he said.
The Madleen is carrying a symbolic quantity of aid, including rice and baby formula, the FFC has said.
FFC press officer Hay Sha Wiya said on Sunday the boat was currently some 160 nautical miles (296 km) from Gaza. “We are preparing for the possibility of interception,” she said.
Besides Thunberg, there are 11 other crew members aboard, including Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.
Israeli media have reported that the military plans to intercept the yacht before it reaches Gaza and escort it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The crew would then be deported.
In 2010, Israeli commandos killed 10 people when they boarded a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, that was leading a small flotilla towards Gaza.
The post Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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