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Hamas Rejects Ceasefire Deal, Says ‘No Hostage Will Be Released Until Israel Ends War’ as Families Decry Sexual Violence Against Captives
Orange balloons fill the skies above Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square on Thursday as hundreds gathered to mark the grim milestone of the first birthday of Kfir Bibas, who is a hostage in Hamas captivity. Wednesday, January 17, 2024. (Photo: Debbie Weiss)
Hamas is said to have rejected a deal for a two-month ceasefire in which the hostages would be freed in exchange for the release of Palestinians security prisoners, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday, citing a senior Egyptian official.
The unnamed official said Hamas had “rejected the proposal and is insisting that no more hostages will be released until Israel ends its offensive and withdraws from Gaza,” the report said.
Egypt and Qatar are currently crafting a phased proposal to reconcile the sticking points, the official said.
The news poses a devastating blow to the families of the hostages, who have ramped up efforts in recent days urging Israeli officials to secure a deal with Hamas.
136 hostages remain in Gaza, including two babies, but the IDF has confirmed the deaths of 28 of those. More than 250 people were abducted to Gaza during Hamas’ assault on October 7, during which more than 1200 people were murdered.
On Sunday evening, relatives of the hostages barricaded themselves across from the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem. The following day, family members disrupted a meeting of the Knesset’s Finance Committee, holding signs with the message, “You will not sit here while they die there.”
In a Knesset lobby for victims of sexual violence on Tuesday morning, former hostages provided testimony about the abuse endured during captivity.
Shani Yerushalmi, the sister of Eden Yerushalmi who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, called on the Israeli government to take action now because “time was of the essence for all the hostages.”
“Does it not bother the prime minister and the cabinet that they will return pregnant and past the point of being able to terminate the pregnancy?” Yerushalmi said.
Aviva Siegel, who was released after 51 days in captivity, said Hamas terrorists had turned the hostages in the Gaza Strip into “dolls with whom they could do what they wanted, when they wanted.”
“The terrorists bring inappropriate clothes, clothes for dolls and turn the girls into their dolls,” she added. “There wasn’t a minute that we didn’t experience abuse – and they are still there. It’s beyond comprehension.”
She added that the male hostages were similarly treated like “puppets.”
Siegel’s daughter, Shir, said her mother’s testimony was “only the tip of the iceberg.” Her father and Siegel’s husband, Keith, is still in Hamas captivity.
Shiri Elbag, the mother of hostage Liri Elbag, acknowledged that Siegel and the other released hostages were only saying a “fraction of what transpired there because they want to protect us.”
Elbag went on to say that she tries not to think about a scenario in which her daughter and others might be pregnant.
A day earlier, Elbag returned from a visit to London where she met with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary David Cameron.
The parents of another hostage, Daniela Gilboa, also traveled to London.
Sunak said he rejected “any attempt to draw an equivalence between Israel’s actions and those of the terrorists.”
“There is a horrific irony in Israel, of all countries being accused of genocide. Under my leadership, this country will always stand by the right of our friend and ally Israel to defend itself within the framework of international law. Am Yisroel chai,” he said.
Cameron denounced Hamas’ hostage-taking as “barbaric.”
“As a dad of children of a similar age, I can only imagine the turmoil they are going through. The UK is doing everything it can to ensure all the hostages, including the two British nationals, are released as soon as possible,” he said following his meeting with the parents.
The post Hamas Rejects Ceasefire Deal, Says ‘No Hostage Will Be Released Until Israel Ends War’ as Families Decry Sexual Violence Against Captives first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters

Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by US Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) filed a lawsuit challenging as unconstitutional the Trump administration’s actions to deport international students and scholars who protest or express support for Palestinian rights.
The lawsuit, filed on Saturday in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York, seeks a nationwide temporary restraining order to block enforcement of two executive orders signed by US President Donald Trump in the first month of his term.
The lawsuit comes after the detention of a Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent US resident of Palestinian descent, whose arrest sparked protests this month.
Justice Department lawyers have argued that the US government is seeking Khalil’s removal because Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reasonable grounds to believe his activities or presence in the country could have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” Rubio on Friday said the United States will likely revoke visas of more students in the coming days.
Trump vowed to deport activists who took part in protests on US college campuses against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza following the October 2023 attack by the Palestinian terrorists.
The ADC lawsuit was filed on behalf of two graduate students and a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who say their activism and support of the Palestinian people “has put them at serious risk of political persecution.”
“This lawsuit is a necessary step to preserve our most fundamental constitutional protections. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech and expression to all persons within the United States, without exception,” said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the ADC.
Chris Godshall-Bennett, the group’s legal director, said the litigation seeks immediate and long-term relief “to protect international students from any unconstitutional overreach that stifles free expression and deters them from fully engaging in academic and public discourse.”
The lawsuit centers on three Cornell University plaintiffs: a British-Gambian national and PhD student with a student visa; a US citizen PhD student working on plant science; and a US citizen novelist, poet, and professor in the Department of Literatures in English.
The post Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week

Israel’s Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar speaks at Reichman University in Herzliya on Sunday, September 11, 2022. Photo: Screenshot
i24 News – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet security agency, that he will bring a vote before his government to dismiss him next week.
The post Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes

Newly recruited fighters who joined a Houthi military force intended to be sent to fight in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, march during a parade in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Houthis claimed on Sunday that they targeted the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and other vessels in the northern Red Sea with 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that the US-led attacks against the Houthis on Saturday comprised of more than 47 airstrikes on seven governorates, with the death toll expected to rise.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target all American warships in the Red Sea and in the Arabian Sea in retaliation to the aggression against our country,” Saree said, vowing the Houthis “will continue to impose a naval blockade on the Israeli enemy and ban its ships in the declared zone of operations until aid and basic needs are delivered to the Gaza Strip.”
The post Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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