Israelis protest against the government and to show support for the hostages who were kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Nov. 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

i24 News – Israel’s Health Ministry detailed the sexual violence and torture suffered by hostages in Hamas captivity, including by children, in a report sent last week to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Alice J. Edwards.

The treatment by captors included severe beatings, branding, sexual violence, food and water deprivation, hair-pulling, and isolation.

Hostages wounded on October 7, 2023, during the terrorist onslaught, did not receive proper medical treatment – and if they did receive medical attention, they were treated without anesthesia.

Pre-existing medical conditions were not treated, with at least one captive dying and several others requiring immediate emergency medical care after returning to Israel during last year’s ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Half of those who returned were starved, according to the medical data. When they returned, some displayed signs of captors overfeeding to improve the hostages’ appearance and weight before being returned.

From the moment the hostages were taken into the Gaza Strip – having witnessed the terrible violence and death of their friends and families as well as the destruction of their homes in southern Israel during the massacre – “they endured beatings, humiliation, and verbal, physical, and sexual violence during the journey.”

Two of the children who returned reported being tied together, and two others had signs of branding that witnesses who returned said were intentionally inflicted.

One of those who came back reported being sexually assaulted at gunpoint, while others were forced to undress while being watched.

Besides forced separation from their families, lack of movement, and arbitrary transfers, the hostages also witnessed other captives being murdered in front of their eyes.

The conditions they were held in have caused a slew of psychological consequences, the report said.

Some reportedly suffer from “survivor’s guilt,” are reticent to speak about their experiences out of fear of reprisal on those still held in captivity, and even desire to return to captivity to help those still held by the terrorists.

Many of those who returned had no homes to come back to, as their communities are still in rubble. Some had little or no appetite after coming back, while others overate, despite knowing this was irrational, out of fear that they would not have anything to eat the next day.

The post Israel Details Sexual Violence, Torture Suffered in Hamas Captivity first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS

JNS.org – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will undergo surgery on Sunday to have his prostate removed.

Last Wednesday, Netanyahu, 75, underwent an examination at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, during which a urinary tract infection caused by a benign prostate enlargement was identified.

He has since been treated with antibiotics, effectively resolving the infection. The premier is scheduled to undergo a procedure to remove his prostate.

The statement added that Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting will first take place as planned.

The Jerusalem District Court agreed to a request filed by Netanyahu’s attorney Amit Hadad on Sunday to postpone this week’s three hearings in his corruption trial, where the prime minister was set to testify. Proceedings will resume on Jan. 6, the court said, expressing its wish for Netanyahu to have “refuah shlema” (“Get well soon”).

The request for postponement was made because the procedure will be performed under full anesthesia and will likely require several days of recovery.

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Yariv Levin wished Netanyahu “a speedy recovery and good health” on his Telegram channel. Shas Party leader Aryeh Deri expressed similar sentiments on X, adding that “the people of Israel need a strong Bibi!”

On March 31, Netanyahu underwent successful hernia surgery at Hadassah Medical Center.

On Dec. 31, 2023, following routine annual checkups by his medical team, Netanyahu received a clean bill of health after undergoing an emergency cardiac procedure earlier in the year.

“During the past year, [the prime minister] underwent annual routine examinations without any unusual findings,” said a letter signed by Netanyahu’s personal physician, Dr. Tzvi Berkovitz, and Professor Alon Pikarsky, head of surgery at Hadassah Medical Center.

“The prime minister maintains a healthy lifestyle and a proper diet. The state of his health is completely normal,” added the physicians.

A separate note from Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer in Ramat Gan touched upon the condition of Netanyahu’s heart, noting that the premier was outfitted with a cardiac pacemaker several months earlier.

“The pacemaker implanted in his body is working properly, the electrical indicators are within the norm, he is not dependent on the pacemaker, and no unusual incidents have been recorded,” wrote Professor Roy Beinart, director of Sheba’s Arrhythmia Institute.

“From a cardiac point of view, the prime minister is completely stable and does not need additional treatment besides routine monitoring,” said Beinart.

The post Netanyahu to Undergo Prostate Surgery Sunday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Photo: Screenshot.

JNS.org – Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah underestimated Israel’s willingness to assassinate him, believing that Jerusalem wanted to avoid a full-scale war, according to a New York Times investigation published on Sunday.

Despite warnings from his aides, he remained in a Beirut bunker 40 feet underground on Sept. 27, which is where Israeli F-15 fighter jets dropped massive explosives, ending the life of the longtime leader of Iran’s Lebanese terrorist proxy along with other senior Hezbollah leaders.

His body was found the next day, buried in the rubble in the embrace of a top Iranian general based in Lebanon, both having died of suffocation, according to Israeli intelligence reports.

The Times investigation showed the extent of Israel’s decades-long penetration into the radical Shi’ite movement, closely tracking the terrorist group’s commanders and culminating in the targeted killing of Nasrallah, which was preceded by weeks earlier by the remote detonation of thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah.

Drawing on interviews with more than two dozen current and former officials from Israel, the United States, and Europe, the Times article paints a picture of an organization deeply compromised by Israeli espionage efforts.

“They recruited people to plant listening devices in Hezbollah bunkers, tracked meetings between one top commander and his four mistresses, and had near constant visibility into the movements of the militia group’s leaders,” the authors of the article wrote.

In 2012, the Israel Defense Forces’ 8200 signals intelligence unit obtained a cache of information detailing the leaders’ secret hideouts and the group’s stockpile of missiles and rockets.

The reporting also revealed that in late 2023, a Hezbollah technician got suspicious about the batteries in the rigged walkie-talkies, and in September, Unit 8200 received intelligence that Hezbollah operatives were sending pagers to Iran for inspection.

Fearing that the operation might be compromised, senior intelligence officials convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to authorize the detonation of the devices, initiating the series of events that led to Nasrallah’s assassination.

A tenuous ceasefire went into effect on Nov. 27, after more than a year of hostilities in which Hezbollah terrorists launched thousands of rockets, missiles and drones at Israeli territory, mostly in the north, where nearly 70,000 residents were evacuated. Israel responded with a devastating aerial campaign and, beginning on Oct. 1, a ground invasion of Southern Lebanon.

It was reported on Sunday that Israel might keep troops positioned in areas of Southern Lebanon past the 60-day deadline for a withdrawal because the Lebanese Army is slow to fulfil its obligation to deploy south of the Litani River and soldiers are still finding Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure.

The IDF has confiscated more than 85,000 weapons, missiles and other terrorism apparatuses belonging to Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon, a military spokesperson revealed on Friday.

Under the terms of the ceasefire deal reached with Beirut on Nov. 26, Israeli forces are to withdraw gradually from the country.

Hezbollah must retreat north of the Litani River, about 20 miles north of the border, while the Lebanese Armed Forces deploy along the 75-mile frontier, along with monitors from the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

The post Nasrallah Underestimated Israel’s Willingness to Assassinate Him first appeared on Algemeiner.com.