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I’m far from the front lines, but like all Israelis, I am feeling Hamas’ attack firsthand
SHITIM, Israel (JTA) — Like many Israelis, I woke up on Saturday in a stupor after celebrating late into the night of the festive holiday of Simchat Torah. I had been attending a four-day festival with hundreds of young Israelis and internationals in the small southern community of Shitim, one hour south of Eilat.
Waking up on the final day of our gathering after a joyous week celebrating Sukkot, I had plans to return to my personal routine after completing the lengthy High Holiday season.
Instead, I woke up hearing tears and panicked conversations in the tents surrounding me. Something was obviously wrong.
Within a few minutes of checking my messages and the news, it became clear that there would be no routine for the foreseeable future as Israel instead faces its most crushing military disaster since the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and its most significant civilian catastrophe perhaps since its founding.
I was far from where Hamas militants had flooded into Israel. But all around me in the community of several hundred gathered for the event, I met young Israelis in the breakfast area desperately trying to reach parents who live in kibbutzes on the Gaza border area.
Others were personally connected to young Israelis missing after an attack at another music festival, at Kibbutz Re’im near the Gaza border. Media reports show a scene of utter carnage at that festival.
People shared their phones to show viral social media posts, including images and videos of Israelis allegedly captured and presumably held in the Gaza Strip, and boastful claims of astonishing victories for the Hamas-led attackers. Social media is filled with posts from people searching for missing family members and, distressingly, comments by friends and family members recognizing their loved ones in those videos and photographs. Reports are streaming in about soldiers killed in combat.
The army and police advised against any travel in our area, and across the country. Yet those attending who were called up for reserve duty nonetheless departed to locations including Gaza, the northern front and the West Bank, as Israel braces for the possibility of additional conflict on multiple fronts.
Other civilian guests in our area chose to seek refuge in the southernmost city of Eilat, out of an abundance of caution, while the local regional council offered hospitality for those who wanted to shelter in private homes. I chose to stay in place, as it feels unsafe to travel in the direction of Gaza towards my home in Tel Aviv, which has seen a barrage of rockets.
I called to check in on a close friend of mine who serves as a reservist and had already made his way to a base where he is awaiting further orders. “The mood here is positive for now,” he told me. He added, referring to the protest movement that has gripped Israel since the beginning of the year, “All the political divisions discussed in the media have evaporated. There is complete unity here for the task ahead and there is nowhere I would rather be now.”
Other friends of mine in the mixed city of Jaffa, where some violence occurred during Israel’s military operation in Gaza in 2020, report that the streets are calm for now. Sheefra Blume, who recently immigrated from the United States, invited local residents of a communal WhatsApp group in Jaffa for a shared meal to support one another.
Because her building lacked a proper shelter, Blume planned to spend the night with a friend whose building was better equipped. But, she told me, “I am not considering leaving Israel.”
Official statements from Israel’s political and military branches are currently vague, as an assessment and counterresponse are in the works. It seems reasonable to expect that after Israel’s worst military disaster in 50 years, the coming response will also be unprecedented in its scope and damage.
As the holiday sun set, a nervous country transitioned to the start of an unexpected war and the beginning of a mass week of national mourning and hard questions.
For me, the next few days are uncertain, as I am not yet sure when it will be advisable to return to the center of the country, and to my routine. Emotionally, I fear that it will be impossible. And I know that many others have it far worse.
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The post I’m far from the front lines, but like all Israelis, I am feeling Hamas’ attack firsthand appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Saudi Arabia Rejects Israel PM Netanyahu’s Remarks on Displacing Palestinians
US President Donald Trump and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talk in the midst of a joint news conference in the White House in Washington, US, Jan. 28, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Saudi Arabia affirmed its categorical rejection of remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about displacing Palestinians from their land, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Israeli officials have suggested the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi territory. Netanyahu appeared to be joking on Thursday when he responded to an interviewer on pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 who mistakenly said “Saudi state” instead of “Palestinian state,” before correcting himself.
While the Saudi statement mentioned Netanyahu’s name, it did not directly refer to the comments about establishing a Palestinian state in Saudi territory.
Egypt and Jordan also condemned the Israeli suggestions, with Cairo deeming the idea as a “direct infringement of Saudi sovereignty.”
The kingdom said it valued “brotherly” states’ rejection of Netanyahu’s remarks.
“This occupying extremist mindset does not comprehend what the Palestinian territory means for the brotherly people of Palestine and its conscientious, historical and legal association with that land,” it said.
Discussions of the fate of Palestinians in Gaza has been upended by Tuesday’s shock proposal from President Donald Trump that the U.S. would “take over the Gaza Strip” from Israel and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.
Arab states have roundly condemned Trump’s comments, which came during a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza war that Israel has been waging against the terrorist group Hamas, which controls the narrow strip.
Trump has said Saudi Arabia was not demanding a Palestinian state as a condition for normalizing ties with Israel. But Riyadh rebuffed his statements, saying it would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
The post Saudi Arabia Rejects Israel PM Netanyahu’s Remarks on Displacing Palestinians first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Egypt to Host Emergency Arab Summit on 27 February to Discuss ‘Serious’ Palestinian Developments
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Feb. 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Egypt will host an emergency Arab summit on 27 February to discuss what it described as “serious” developments for Palestinians, according to a statement from the Egyptian foreign ministry on Sunday.
The summit comes amid regional and global condemnation of US President Donald Trump’s suggestion to “take over the Gaza Strip” from Israel and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.
The post Egypt to Host Emergency Arab Summit on 27 February to Discuss ‘Serious’ Palestinian Developments first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Thai Nationals Held Captive by Hamas in Gaza Return Home
Relatives hug a released Thai hostage, who was kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas and held in Gaza, as the hostages arrive in Thailand following their release, at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, in Samut Prakan, Thailand, February 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
When Surasak Rumnao, 31, left his home in Thailand’s rural Udon Thani province three years ago to go across the world to the southern Israeli town of Yesha for agriculture work, his family never imagined they would lose touch with him for over a year when he was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in October 2023.
He and four others were reunited with their families this weekend after their release from captivity in Gaza.
Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists abducted more than 250 people, including Israelis and foreign nationals, in their October 2023 attack on Israel.
During the attack, Hamas terrorists killed more than 40 Thais and kidnapped 31 Thai laborers, some of whom died in captivity, according to the Thai government. Later that year, the first group of Thai hostages was returned.
Surasak’s mother, Khammee Rumnao, was relieved that her son was not mistreated and has returned to his home, about 620 km(385 miles) northeast of the capital, Bangkok.
“He mainly got to eat bread, he was looked after well and was fed all three meals (each day). He got to shower, he was looked after well,” Khammee said, and that he ate whatever his captors had.
Her son does not plan to go back and wants to use the knowledge he gained in his agricultural work in Israel at their home, she said.
His grandparents and other relatives came to their home to welcome him home.
His stepfather, Janda Prachanan, was elated.
“I couldn’t find the words to describe how happy I am, that my son is safe and finally home,” he said.
Earlier on Sunday, the other returnees, dressed in winter jackets, were met with tears of joy from their families who were waiting for their arrival at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
“We are all deeply touched to come back to our birthplace … to be standing here,” said Pongsak Thaenna, one of the returnees said. “I don’t know what else to say, we are all truly thankful.”
Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa, who met the hostages in Israel after their release last week, expressed relief.
“This is emotional … to come back to the embrace of their families,” he said. “We never gave up and this was the fruit of that.”
Before the conflict, approximately 30,000 Thai laborers worked in Israel’s agriculture sector, making them one of the largest migrant worker groups in the country. Nearly 9,000 Thais were repatriated following the October 7 attacks.
The workers primarily come from Thailand’s northeastern region, an area comprising villages and farming communities that is among the poorest in the country.
Thailand’s foreign ministry said a Thai national is still believed to be held captive by Hamas.
“We still have hope and continue to work to bring them back,” Maris said, adding that this includes the bodies of two deceased Thai nationals.
The post Thai Nationals Held Captive by Hamas in Gaza Return Home first appeared on Algemeiner.com.