Illustrative. Children land at Ben-Gurion Airport and are greeted by Nefesh B’Nefesh co-founders Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and Tony Gelbart, as well as Israel’s Minister of Aliyah and Integration, Sofa Landver. Photo: Shahar Azran.

i24 News – About 35,000 Jews have made Aliyah (immigration to Israel) since October 7, 2023, according to figures published on Sunday by the Jewish Agency for Israel. Of these 35,000 people, originating from a hundred different countries, 31,000 have immigrated to Israel in the year 2024. A third of all immigrants were aged 18-35 years old.

The Jewish Agency’s Global Aliyah Center in Jerusalem has recorded a massive increase in the opening of aliyah files in Western countries. The Massa organization, jointly created by the Jewish Agency and the Israeli government, has meanwhile continued to bring thousands of young Jews to Israel despite the war.

The agency has also worked to mobilize Jews in the diaspora to help Israel. According to the data, 11,000 families affected by terrorism in Israel have received donations, emergency aid, and reconstruction assistance from Jews in the Diaspora. The donations amounted to a total of 80 million shekels ($20.8 million).

Since October 7, 2023, the Jewish Agency has also worked to strengthen the security of Jewish communities outside of Israel by sending over 2,300 emissaries to 65 countries. These individuals have also helped to mobilize support for the State of Israel on the world stage and to raise public awareness about the release of hostages. The Agency’s Security Fund has invested more than 19 million shekels ($5 million) for the safety of these Jewish communities in the face of a sharp increase in antisemitic acts.

“The mutual commitment between the Jews of the world and Israel is a ray of light in one of the most challenging periods in our shared history,” said the director of the Jewish Agency, Yehuda Setton, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post. “We worked together to strengthen Israel in the shadow of war and the security of Jewish communities following waves of antisemitism around the world. The Jewish Agency will continue to build the strategic partnership between Diaspora Jews and Israel and enable every Jew in the world to take part in building our shared future.”

“The Jewish Agency works to strengthen and revitalize the State of Israel in a variety of ways that are possible thanks to the connection we forge with Diaspora Jews,” said Major General (res.) Doron Almog, the chairman of the Jewish Agency. “This is a connection of existential importance that is an expression of strength and unity.”

The post 35,000 Jews Immigrated to Israel Since October 7 Massacre first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

A drone view shows smoke above Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, as seen from near Kibbutz Nir Am in southern Israel, December 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ilan Rosenberg/File Photo

Israeli forces carrying out a weeks-long offensive in northern Gaza ordered any residents remaining in Beit Hanoun to leave the town on Sunday, citing Palestinian terrorist rocket fire from the area, residents said.

The instruction to leave has caused a new wave of displacement, although it was not immediately clear how many people were affected, the residents said.

Israel says its almost three-month-old campaign in northern Gaza is aimed at Hamas terrorists and preventing them from regrouping. Its instructions to civilians to evacuate are meant to keep them out of harm’s way, the military says.

Palestinian and United Nations officials say no place is safe in Gaza and that evacuations worsen the humanitarian conditions of the population.

Much of the area around the northern towns of Beit Hanoun, Jabalia and Beit Lahiya has been cleared of people and razed, fueling speculation Israel intends to keep the area as a closed buffer zone after the fighting in Gaza ends.

The Israeli military announced its new push into the Beit Hanoun area on Saturday. It said the rocket fire into Israel continued throughout Sunday despite the intense operation there.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said it had lost communication with people still trapped in the town, and it was unable to send teams into the area because of the raid.

HOSPITALS

Health officials said an Israeli tank shell on Sunday had hit the upper floor of the Al-Ahly Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza City near the X-ray division.

The Israeli military said the strike targeted members of the Hamas “Aerial Defence Unit,” who operated from the compound, saying the place no longer served as a hospital. It said the militants was using the compound to plan and execute attacks against Israeli troops in the immediate future.

On Friday, Israeli forces stormed the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, detaining more than 240 Palestinians, including medics.

The military said the hospital had been used as a command center for Hamas, adding on Sunday that 15 of those detained had participated in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, and that its operation there had killed about 20 militants.

Hamas denies Israel’s claim that its fighters operate from hospitals, and called for U.N. observers to be sent to Gaza’s medical facilities.

The raid on Kamal Adwan, one of three medical facilities on the northern edge of Gaza, put the last major health facility in the area out of service, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a post on X.

The post Israeli Forces Order New Evacuation of Besieged Northern Gaza Town, Residents Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Israelis protest against the government and to show support for the hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

i24 News – Israel’s Health Ministry detailed the sexual violence and torture suffered by hostages in Hamas captivity, including by children, in a report sent last week to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Alice J. Edwards.

The treatment by captors included severe beatings, branding, sexual violence, food and water deprivation, hair-pulling, and isolation.

Hostages wounded on October 7, 2023, during the terrorist onslaught, did not receive proper medical treatment – and if they did receive medical attention, they were treated without anesthesia.

Pre-existing medical conditions were not treated, with at least one captive dying and several others requiring immediate emergency medical care after returning to Israel during last year’s ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Half of those who returned were starved, according to the medical data. When they returned, some displayed signs of captors overfeeding to improve the hostages’ appearance and weight before being returned.

From the moment the hostages were taken into the Gaza Strip – having witnessed the terrible violence and death of their friends and families as well as the destruction of their homes in southern Israel during the massacre – “they endured beatings, humiliation, and verbal, physical, and sexual violence during the journey.”

Two of the children who returned reported being tied together, and two others had signs of branding that witnesses who returned said were intentionally inflicted.

One of those who came back reported being sexually assaulted at gunpoint, while others were forced to undress while being watched.

Besides forced separation from their families, lack of movement, and arbitrary transfers, the hostages also witnessed other captives being murdered in front of their eyes.

The conditions they were held in have caused a slew of psychological consequences, the report said.

Some reportedly suffer from “survivor’s guilt,” are reticent to speak about their experiences out of fear of reprisal on those still held in captivity, and even desire to return to captivity to help those still held by the terrorists.

Many of those who returned had no homes to come back to, as their communities are still in rubble. Some had little or no appetite after coming back, while others overate, despite knowing this was irrational, out of fear that they would not have anything to eat the next day.

The post Israel Details Sexual Violence, Torture Suffered in Hamas Captivity first appeared on Algemeiner.com.