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Israel to Honor Three Hostages Mistakenly Killed by IDF During Fierce Gaza Fighting
Israeli soldiers operate at the Shajaiya district of Gaza city amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terror group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, Dec. 8, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Yossi Zeliger
Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced on Wednesday that the three hostages being held in Gaza by the Hamas terror group who were mistakenly killed by Israeli soldiers during combat in December would be honored in a ceremony.
“In view of the extraordinary circumstances of the event, the president decided to honor the determination, fortitude, and special bravery that the three demonstrated, and to award their families a unique certificate of appreciation in the name of the State of Israel,” read a statement from the President’s Office.
“The families and the security establishment were informed of his intention to award the certificates and that a ceremony would be held at the President’s Residence at a date to be determined later,” the statement continued.
Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz, and Samir Talalka were kidnapped during Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre, when the Palestinian terror group invaded and rampaged across southern Israel, murdering 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 253 hostages. They escaped captivity in December and approached Israeli forces, holding a white flag and screaming in Hebrew to help them.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israeli troops mistakenly identified the hostages as a threat and opened fire at them, killing all three.
“This is an area where the soldiers encountered many terrorists, including suicide bombers,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said at the time. He called the incident a “tragic accident.”
The battle took place in the northern Gaza Strip village of Shejaiya, known as a Hamas stronghold.
The incident shocked Israel, causing leaders of the security establishment to issue apologies and change tactics to ensure such a tragedy did not happen again.
Iris Haim, the mother of Yotam, had been active on Israeli television in the weeks leading up to her son’s death, speaking frequently about unity and victory during the war in Gaza. Upon hearing that members of the unit that killed her son were distraught, she recorded a video that went viral in Israel.
“I know that everything that happened is absolutely not your fault, and nobody’s fault except that of Hamas; may their name be wiped out and their memory erased from the earth,” she said in the video. “I want you to look after yourselves and to think all the time that you are doing the best thing in the world, the best thing that could happen, that could help us. Because all the people of Israel and all of us need you healthy.”
The parents of Shamriz had been petitioning the government to recognize the victims as fallen soldiers, hoping for him to be honored by the IDF. The matter is being petitioned to the High Court of Justice.
Shamriz’s father, Avi, commented on the latest announcement from Herzog: “The president said he recognized Alon’s heroism; he kept his word the whole way and we thank him for that. Our Alon was a hero, and I welcome the recognition of the president of the country who respected us and promised to recognize the heroism of the fallen. I hope that now the IDF will also recognize our struggle to recognize Alon; this is something that must be resolved. Our Alon led the other two captives with his professional knowledge from his military days as a warrior and fell as a hero.”
The post Israel to Honor Three Hostages Mistakenly Killed by IDF During Fierce Gaza Fighting first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd
Magdeburg Christmas market, December 21, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang
i24 News – A suspected terrorist plowed a vehicle into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg, west of the capital Berlin, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.
Local police confirmed that the suspect was a Saudi national born in 1974 and acting alone.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern about the incident, saying that “reports from Magdeburg suggest something bad. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”
Police declined to give casualty numbers, confirming only a large-scale operation at the market, where people had gathered to celebrate in the days leading up to the Christmas holidays.
The post Germany: 5 Killed, Scores Wounded after Saudi Man Plows Car Into Christmas crowd first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister
A person waves a flag adopted by the new Syrian rulers, as people gather during a celebration called by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) near the Umayyad Mosque, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, Photo: December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo
Syria’s new rulers have appointed Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency which toppled Bashar al-Assad, as defense minister in the interim government, an official source said on Saturday.
Abu Qasra, who is also known by the nom de guerre Abu Hassan 600, is a senior figure in the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which led the campaign that ousted Assad this month. He led numerous military operations during Syria’s revolution, the source said.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed “the form of the military institution in the new Syria” during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported.
Abu Qasra during the meeting sat next to Sharaa, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, photos published by SANA showed.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said this week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former rebel factions and officers who defected from Assad’s army.
Bashir, who formerly led an HTS-affiliated administration in the northwestern province of Idlib, has said he will lead a three-month transitional government. The new administration has not declared plans for what will happen after that.
Earlier on Saturday, the ruling General Command named Asaad Hassan al-Shibani as foreign minister, SANA said. A source in the new administration told Reuters that this step “comes in response to the aspirations of the Syrian people to establish international relations that bring peace and stability.”
Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, previously led the political department of the rebels’ Idlib government, the General Command said.
Sharaa’s group was part of al Qaeda until he broke ties in 2016. It had been confined to Idlib for years until going on the offensive in late November, sweeping through the cities of western Syria and into Damascus as the army melted away.
Sharaa has met with a number of international envoys this week. He has said his primary focus is on reconstruction and achieving economic development and that he is not interested in engaging in any new conflicts.
Syrian rebels seized control of Damascus on Dec. 8, forcing Assad to flee after more than 13 years of civil war and ending his family’s decades-long rule.
Washington designated Sharaa a terrorist in 2013, saying al Qaeda in Iraq had tasked him with overthrowing Assad’s rule and establishing Islamic sharia law in Syria. US officials said on Friday that Washington would remove a $10 million bounty on his head.
The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, caused one of the biggest refugee crises of modern times and left cities bombed to rubble and the economy hollowed out by global sanctions.
The post Syria’s New Rulers Name HTS Commander as Defense Minister first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels
View of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) building in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash90.
i24 News – Sweden will no longer fund the U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) and will instead provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza via other channels, the Scandinavian country said on Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of multiple revelations regarding the agency’s employees’ involvement in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre in southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Sweden’s decision was in response to the Israeli ban, as it will make channeling aid via the agency more difficult, the country’s aid minister, Benjamin Dousa, said.
“Large parts of UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are either going to be severely weakened or completely impossible,” Dousa said. “For the government, the most important thing is that support gets through.”
The Palestinian embassy in Stockholm said in a statement: “We reject the idea of finding alternatives to UNRWA, which has a special mandate to provide services to Palestinian refugees.”
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel thanked Dousa for a meeting they had this week and for Sweden’s decision to drop its support for UNRWA.
“There are worthy and viable alternatives for humanitarian aid, and I appreciate the willingness to listen and adopt a different approach,” she said.
The post Sweden Ends Funding for UNRWA, Pledges to Seek Other Aid Channels first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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