RSS
As Kfir Bibas turns 1 in captivity, supporters from Tel Aviv to Davos mark ‘the saddest birthday in the world’
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Three weeks after her cousin was abducted and taken to Gaza along with her family, Yifar Zailer said she knew one thing for sure: “I don’t want to be here in two months, celebrating Kfir’s first birthday.”
And yet that’s exactly what Zailer did on Thursday, returning to Hostages Square in Tel Aviv for what her family had dubbed “the saddest birthday in the world.”
Zailer was there along with hundreds of others to mark the first birthday of Kfir Bibas, the youngest hostage to be taken hostage when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
Kfir and his 4-year-old brother Ariel became an early face to the hostage crisis that morning, when Hamas released a video clip showing them being abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with their mother Shiri, whose terror was visible. Their father Yarden Bibas was also abducted.
In November, all of the other child hostages and their mothers were released during a ceasefire deal. Shortly afterwards, Hamas said Kfir, Ariel and Shiri Bibas had all been killed in captivity, offering no evidence but releasing a video in which an anguished Yarden exhorted Israel to end its war. Israel has not confirmed or denied Hamas’ claims.
Zailer said there had been no information about the family’s status delivered privately, either. And so both she and the legion of advocates who have converted a central square in Tel Aviv into a lobbying location to bring the hostages home planned a birthday party befitting the lively redheaded boy who has spent a quarter of his life in captivity.
Many people in the crowd were wearing orange in homage to the two brothers’ distinctive red hair and clutching orange balloons. The balloons were released at the end of the event to the tune of “They Call Me Gingi,” a new song composed for the baby by several Israeli performers whose lyrics include, “I was left behind / they say I’m a hero / I don’t know why.”
Judith Paz, who has been volunteering with the Bibas family in charge of English-language content on its social media channels, said she refused to wish Kfir a happy birthday because there was “nothing happy about it.”
“But next year, we’ll all be here celebrating because there will be a huge party for Kfir’s second birthday in Hostages Square, together with Kfir and the rest of his family,” she said.
Other gatherings honoring Kfir took place around the world, with orange balloons being released in several European cities, a candlelight vigil by members of the U.S. Congress, and an art show in Berlin featuring works by a member of the extended Bibas family.
A photo of Kfir was also on display next to Israeli President Isaac Herzog during his address at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday. He revealed that he had met with officials from the Red Cross in Israel two days earlier to discuss “the clear and present danger to our hostages.”
Around 150 high-ranking executives, including prominent Jewish business leaders Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Dell CEO Michael Dell, Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg, held a meeting with released hostages at the forum.
Judith Paz, who has been volunteering with the Bibas family, says she will celebrate Kfir Bibas’ birthday when he is home. (Deborah Danan)
Rachel Goldberg-Polin, whose son Hersh was taken captive to Gaza after having his arm blown off, called on the corporate leaders to “leverage their global connections to immediately advance a deal without delay,” according to a statement released by the Hostages Families Forum.
Nili Margalit, who was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and subsequently released during November’s truce, said there was “not enough air to breathe” in the subterranean tunnels she was held in.
“Most of the people I was with in the tunnels are still being held deep underground, and they are terrified and wounded,” she said according to the statement. “The hostages could die any day. Every hour is dangerous for them.”
Zailer, who like the Bibases holds Argentinian citizenship, has been all around the world tirelessly advocating for her family’s release.
“We’re doing everything we can to push our government and other governments to make this deal [with Hamas] to get them out,” she said.
A breakthrough in talks took place this week, with Hamas agreeing for the first time to allow medicine in for the hostages. But it has not yet agreed to allow Red Cross doctors to visit the roughly 100 living Israelis understood to be in Gaza — Hamas is also believed to be holding the bodies of about 30 Israelis, including two whose deaths were confirmed this week — no further progress around releasing additional hostages has been reported.
“We need a deal now,” said Yossi Schneider, another cousin. Referring to Hamas’ chief in Gaza whom Israeli officials say has surrounded himself with hostages, he added, “Yahya Sinwar can be killed any day, but Kfir and the others have no more time.”
—
The post As Kfir Bibas turns 1 in captivity, supporters from Tel Aviv to Davos mark ‘the saddest birthday in the world’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
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.
RSS
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.
RSS
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.
The post US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login