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Israel’s President Makes Official Visit to Hungary, Meets With Family of Hamas Hostage
Israeli President Isaac Herzog looks on during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, not pictured, in Washington, DC, on Oct. 25, 2022. Stefani Reynolds/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday received an official state welcome ceremony for his visit to Hungary, where he met his Hungarian counterpart and the family of Omri Miran, a hostage held by Hamas in Gaza since the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks across southern Israel.
“Omri is, first and foremost, a father. He has two little daughters — Roni, who is three and a half, and Alma, who is one year and eleven months old,” Miran’s wife, Lishi, told Herzog and Hungary’s President Tamás Sulyok during their meeting. “The last time he saw them, and they saw him, was on Oct. 7, when Alma was only six months old, and Roni was two years old. They themselves were also hostages. We were held hostage together as a family, Omri was taken to Gaza, and I was left with the girls.”
Lishi added, “We are now at an extremely critical moment — both for Israel and for Hamas. We need — I need, my daughters need, and all of Israel needs — the help of every world leader like you to exert pressure so that our nightmare ends. Omri, who is your citizen and my husband, is in stage two of the deal. This week or next, we hope to complete the first stage. We need you to do everything possible so that Omri is released as soon as possible. My daughters need their father.”
The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal, a 42-day truce that went into effect on Jan. 19, calls for Hamas to gradually release 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom are believed to be dead, in exchange for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have been serving lengthy sentences for terrorist activity. The second phase, negotiations for which are set to begin this week, would involve the release of the remaining living hostages and a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza.
Seventy captives remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 35 confirmed dead by the Israeli military.
Sulyok responded to Lishi by affirming that “we will do everything possible to ensure that an Israeli and Hungarian citizen — your husband, the father of your daughters — is released as soon as possible. We will continue to stand by your side. We share your hardship and pain because they are our hardships and pains as well.”
Herzog and Sulyok also met with Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor Aharon Shevo and his family who presented the Hungarian leader with a stamp commemorating 80 years since the Holocaust.
Following their meeting, Herzog and Sulyok both delivered statements to members of the media in attendance.
“Mr. President, in the year and a half since the horrific massacre of Oct. 7, Hungary has stood by Israel, and I deeply appreciate that. Hungary has demonstrated deep friendship and has refused to bow to the powerful wave of antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and anti-Israel sentiment sweeping the world,” Herzog said. “You have backed Israel in international forums, and, of course, supported in the struggle to bring home the Israeli hostages from Gaza. So, thank you — thank you to you, your government, and the people of Hungary for your support. This is the moment when the friendship between nations is truly tested.”
Herzog said that “the bond between the Jewish people and the Hungarian people is long-standing and historical. Hungarian Jewry is one of the most distinguished Jewish communities in the world, with deep historical roots and, of course, a magnificent community of Hungarian-origin Jews in Israel.”
On Wednesday, the Israeli president plans to visit the site where the home of Theodor Herzl, widely considered the father of modern Zionism, once stood and where “more than three decades after my father, the late Chaim Herzog, the sixth President of Israel, became the first Israeli President to visit that place,” Herzog said.
Sulyok stated that he and Herzog “see eye to eye on everything related to protecting our national borders, the independence of our nations, and issues concerning these matters. I believe that a strong Israel is essential not only for Israel’s security but also for Europe’s security and the fight against antisemitism.”
The Hungarian president added, “We categorically reject what the Hamas terror organization did to Israel on Oct. 7. We categorically reject the inhumane conditions in which the hostages are being held. Israel has the right to defend itself and to ensure the long-term security of its citizens. Preserving and expanding the peace process initiated in the Middle East is a shared interest. I told the president that Hungary maintains zero tolerance for all forms of antisemitism.”
Hungarian leadership also expressed support for Israel following the International Criminal Court’s issuing of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“Today I will invite Israel’s prime minister, Mr. Netanyahu, for a visit to Hungary, and in that invite, I will guarantee him that if he comes, the ICC ruling will have no effect in Hungary, and we will not follow its contents,” Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in November.
On Tuesday, Sulyok said that Israel “can count on us as steadfast supporters. We will not only continue our support but also seek further cooperation with Israel. Now and in the future, we will raise our voices against antisemitic rhetoric. It is important to us that the Jewish community feels safe here, especially given the alarming trends we have witnessed in Europe in recent years. We are committed to Holocaust remembrance — for the sake of future generations as well. The dialogue between our countries remains open, including in education, research, and various collaborations, which we continue to deepen. I hope our friendship will grow even stronger, and I am grateful for your visit.”
The post Israel’s President Makes Official Visit to Hungary, Meets With Family of Hamas Hostage first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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