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Israeli Soccer Player Manor Solomon Signs With Leeds United on Season-Long Loan Deal
Manor Solomon of Tottenham during the Premier League match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, England, 30th September 2023. Photo: David Klein / Sportimage via Reuters
Leeds United confirmed on Tuesday that Israeli soccer player Manor Solomon has joined the English soccer team on a season-long loan deal from the Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.
Solomon, who was born in a Sephardic Jewish family in Israel, will wear the number 14 jersey for Leeds United. He began his professional soccer career with the Israeli Premier League soccer team Maccabi Petah Tikvah in 2017. Two years later he was signed by the Ukrainian soccer team Shakhtar Donetsk. He helped the Ukrainian club win the Ukrainian Premier League twice, as well as the Ukrainian Cup and the Ukrainian Super Cup. He also competed in the UEFA Champions League, the top soccer competition in Europe – during his three seasons with Shakhtar, and became the the youngest Israeli to score in the UEFA Champions League when he scored a goal in Shakhtar’s group-stage game against Atalanta in October 2019.
“I am really happy to be here,” said Solomon, 25, who is the sixth player to be signed this summer by Leeds United. “I’ve heard a lot about the club, about its fans, about the heritage, the history. I know it’s a massive club in England and I’m looking forward to seeing the fans and to meet them all.”
“As soon as the interest from Leeds came, I started to look for the players, for the coach and I’ve spoken with the manager and he explained to me about the style of playing, about the players that there are in Leeds,” Solomon added. “I know there is a group of great lads, young people with great desire, with great techniques and I’m looking forward to playing with them and to help them in the best way I can. I just want to get going.”
In July 2022, after fleeing Ukraine at the start of the country’s war with Russia, Solomon moved to the west London side Fulham on a season-long loan deal from Shakhtar. He made 24 appearances and scored five goals in five consecutive games while playing for Fulham. He was also nominated for the Premier League’s Player of the Month award.
Solomon joined Tottenham Hotspur as a forward on a five-year deal in July 2023. His last season was cut short in September due to an injury but he returned to play for the Spurs in pre-season earlier this summer. Solomon said this week, “now I am fit and I’m ready to go, I’m ready to show myself again.”
“I’m ready to go back to the biggest levels again and hopefully we’ll have a great season here at Leeds,” he said. “We have one goal and everyone knows our goal, hopefully we’ll do it together.”
The post Israeli Soccer Player Manor Solomon Signs With Leeds United on Season-Long Loan Deal first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.