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Netanyahu Says Thursday to Be ‘Wrenching Day’ for Israel as Hamas, Islamic Jihad Set to Hand Over Hostage Bodies
Yzhar Lifshitz, a resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, holds a poster of his father, Oded Lifshitz, 84, who had been held hostage in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, during an interview with Reuters in Karmei Yosef, Israel, Dec. 17, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Joyce Zhou
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Thursday would be a “difficult” and “wrenching” day for Israel as it receives the bodies of four hostages set to be handed over by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas as part of the ongoing Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal.
“Tomorrow will be a very difficult day for the State of Israel. A wrenching day, a day of grief. We are bringing home four of our beloved hostages, deceased,” Netanyahu said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Israeli premier’s comments came one day after his office confirmed that “four slain hostages” would be released on Thursday, followed by “six living hostages” on Saturday as part of the Jewish state’s ceasefire with Hamas that has halted the war in Gaza.
“We embrace the families, and the heart of the entire nation is torn. My own heart is torn. So is yours. And all of the world’s heart should be torn, because this demonstrates who we are dealing with, what we are dealing with — with such monsters,” Netanyahu’s statement on Wednesday continued. “We are grieving, we are in pain, but we are also determined to ensure that such a thing never happens again.”
The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Iran-backed terrorist group in Gaza allied with Hamas, said on Wednesday that it would release the body of Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz, who was 84 years old, on Thursday. The group said Lifshitz was one of the hostages killed during Israeli strikes on Gaza.
Hamas is set to release the bodies of three other hostages on Thursday, members of the Bibas family. A spokesperson for the terrorist group announced on Tuesday that it would transfer the bodies of the four Israelis, including the two youngest hostages, Kfir and Ariel Bibas.
Also on Tuesday, the families of Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov, Eliya Cohen, Tal Shoham, Avera Mengistu, and Hisham al-Sayed announced they had been informed by Israeli authorities that their loved ones were slated for release on Saturday.
Al-Sayed and Mengistu had been held in Gaza for over a decade after entering the enclave of their own accord. All the others were abducted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel, murdered 1,200 people, and kidnapped 251 hostages into Gaza.
An additional four hostages would be released next week, according to Netanyahu’s office.
The fate of Kfir and Ariel Bibas — who were nine months and four years old, respectively, at the time of their abduction — and their mother, Shiri, has remained uncertain since the Oct. 7 massacre, during which they were snatched from their home in kibbutz Nir Oz. Shiri’s husband, Yarden Bibas, was released earlier this month as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
In a statement, the Bibas family said it had not received confirmation from Israeli authorities on Hamas’s declaration of their deaths.
“In the past few hours, we have been in turmoil following a Hamas spokesperson’s announcement about the planned return of our Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir this Thursday as part of the hostages’ remains release phase,” the family said in the statement, which was released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. “We want to make it clear that while we are aware of these reports, we have not yet received any official confirmation regarding this matter. Until we receive definitive confirmation, our journey is not over. We ask the media and the public to respect our privacy and refrain from contacting us about this matter.”
The Israeli health care system and the National Center of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv are preparing to receive the deceased hostages and conduct examinations to confirm identification and attempt to determine the cause and time of death.
Before then, the Red Cross will take custody of the bodies from Hamas at a designated transfer point and hand them over to the Israeli military.
Hamas has so far only released living hostages, and mental health organizations are reportedly making preparations for the devastating emotional impact that the first hand-over of hostage bodies will have not only on the families but also Israeli society more broadly.
The first phase of the ceasefire, which went into effect on Jan. 19 and is set to last 42 days, calls on 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.
About 70 captives remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 35 confirmed dead by the Israeli military.
Negotiations for the next phase of the ceasefire deal are set to begin this week. That phase is supposed to include the release of all the remaining living hostages and a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, although differing views over Gaza’s future, including the role of Hamas in the Palestinian enclave, still need to be addressed.
The post Netanyahu Says Thursday to Be ‘Wrenching Day’ for Israel as Hamas, Islamic Jihad Set to Hand Over Hostage Bodies first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pro-Palestinian Rioters Splatter Israeli Singer With Red Paint, Try to Storm Stage at Concert in Poland
Illustrative: Anti-Israel protesters hold a banner that says, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” standing in front of the president’s palace in Warsaw, Poland, on Nov. 5, 2023. Photo: IMAGO/Marek Antoni Iwanczuk via Reuters Connect
Anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrators threw red paint on Israeli singer-songwriter and composer David D’Or and tried to storm the stage with a Palestinian flag during his performance in Warsaw, Poland, on Sunday night.
D’Or was singing the Hebrew prayer “Avinu Malkeinu” at a finale concert for an annual Jewish cultural festival in Warsaw when an anti-Israel agitator in the audience approached the stage and hurled red paint on him. While the protester was being apprehended by security, another activist emerged from the audience, carrying a Palestinian flag, and tried to storm the stage while reportedly shouting “Free Palestine.” Both activists were quickly removed from the auditorium.
D’Or posted a video of the incident on Instagram and detailed what happened in a Hebrew-language caption.
“In the middle of the prayer our father our king, when I pray for a good year and for peace in the world, I closed my eyes, when I suddenly felt a cold splash on my face, I opened my eyes to see a strong red color, similar to blood,” wrote the singer. “On the clothes on my face and on the stage and the musicians. The playlist was like stained in blood.” He said the stains of red paint reminded him “of the horror sights of October 7th,” referring to the deadly Hamas-led attack in 2023 in which Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages back to the Gaza Strip, starting the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
D’Or said after he was splattered with red paint, “in the stunned crowd a sound of horror and crying began. I realized that I must pick myself up and encourage them.”
“I continued to sing and asked everyone to close their eyes and pray for the people of Israel,” he added. “It wasn’t easy, my eyes were teary with pain and great sadness from the situation we got to. At the end of the show the audience sang along with me and we came out strong … What terrible days, may God have mercy. Praying for better days.”
D’Or’s performance on Sunday night, accompanied by Sinfonia Viva, closed off the 22nd edition of the Singer’s Warsaw Festival of Jewish Culture. The concert took place at the Moniuszko Auditorium.
D’or’s career spans over 35 years and he has performed with many philharmonic orchestras around the world, including the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonic Orchestras of Rome, London, Moscow, Shanghai, Budapest, Beijing, and Los Angeles. He has 17 gold and platinum albums and previously performed at the Vatican six times, the United Nations, in front of former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and had a close relationship with Israeli President Shimon Peres, who asked for D’or to sing at his funeral.
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Florida Man Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Plotting Attacks Targeting Jews, Blacks
An American flag waves outside the US Department of Justice Building in Washington, DC. Photo: Al Drago via Reuters Connect
A man from Margate, Florida, man was sentenced on Friday to 25 years in federal prison for planning attacks against Jewish and Black Americans, the US Department of Justice announced.
John Kevin Lapinski, Jr., 41, previously pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, possession of a firearm by a person subject to a court order, possession of an unregistered silencer, and possession of body armor by a violent felon.
On Oct. 31, 2024, officers from the Margate Police Department responded to a call about shots fired in a residential neighborhood and discovered that Lapinski was the shooter. Inside his home, police officers found a shooting target that depicted a Black male covered in bullet holes. They also found Lapinski’s arsenal that included five firearms, more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition, two silencers, body armor, smoke grenades, a Ghillie suit used for camouflage, and tactical gear.
Officers additionally found maps of local schools, parks, and community sites with racial slurs, written by Lapinski, that targeted Black and Jewish people. Lapinski had also compiled a “target list” for attacks based on race and religion and it mentioned a Jewish member of Congress, local synagogues, Jewish-owned businesses, and other religious and ethnically identified sites, according to the Justice Department
“This defendant stockpiled weapons, tactical gear, and detailed attack plans to terrorize Jewish and Black Americans in our communities. His intent was not abstract — it was written on his maps, his targets, and his so-called hit list,” US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement
“Thanks to the swift work of our law enforcement partners, his plan never became reality,” Quiñones added. “Instead of carrying out acts of racist violence, he will spend the next quarter-century behind bars. Let this sentence serve as a warning: hate-fueled violence will be met with decisive federal prosecution. We will disrupt your plans, seize your weapons, and ensure you never endanger the people of this district again.”
Investigators also linked Lapinski to a shooting in August 2024 that targeted the home and vehicle of a Jewish Florida resident.
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Houthi Terrorists Raid UN Premises in Yemen, Detain At Least 11 People
Houthi policemen ride on the back of a patrol pick-up truck during the funeral of Houthi terrorists killed by recent US-led strikes, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Yemen‘s Iran-backed Houthi rebels raided United Nations offices in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday and detained at least 11 UN personnel, the body said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Houthis, an internationally designated terrorist group, forcibly entered World Food Program premises, seized UN property, and attempted to enter other UN offices in the capital.
The raid followed an Israeli strike on Sanaa on Thursday that killed the prime minister of Yemen‘s Houthi-run government and several other ministers.
UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said in a separate statement that the 11 staff were detained in both Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah.
UNICEF, the UN Development Program and the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees are among other UN agencies with offices in one or both of the two cities.
Grundberg said the detentions were in addition to 23 other UN staff previously detained, some since 2021, and one who died in detention this year.