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Released Hostages Speak at World Economic Forum, Urge Action
Ofri Bibas Levy, whose brother Yarden (34) was taken hostage with his wife Shiri (32) and 2 children Kfir (10 months) and Ariel (4), holds with her friend Tal Ulus pictures of them during an interview with Reuters, as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas continues, in Geneva, Switzerland, Nov. 13, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
A group of released hostages spoke on Thursday before the World Economic Forum, currently underway in Davos, Switzerland.
“Hamas terrorists desecrated the most peaceful place and turned it into a bloodbath. On the way to Gaza I was beaten, I thought my life was over, I prayed that I would die quickly and without suffering,” said Moran Stela Yanai, a 40-year-old who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival in Re’im on October 7 and released as part of the November hostage deal. “Every minute we thought we would be raped. We couldn’t sleep, we couldn’t breathe, we weren’t allowed to speak. The captivity in Gaza included never-ending anxiety attacks and nightmares. Every day left a scar on the soul,” she continued.
Another former hostage, Niki Margalit, a 41-year-old nurse at Soroka Hospital in the south who was reported to have acted in her professional capacity taking care of fellow hostages in Gaza, said “By profession I am a nurse in a children’s emergency room, and I realized that there too I have to help and take care of those around me. But without medical supplies, this is an almost impossible task. In addition to the injuries and the sick, there is not enough air to breathe, not enough food, and [lack of] basic hygiene. The body is so weak that any disease can kill you. The abductees can die every day! Every hour is dangerous for them.”
Hamas terrorists kidnapped more than 240 civilians when they broke into southern Israel on October 7, also killing more than 1,200 Israelis, 364 of whom were murdered at the Nova music festival Yanai was taken captive from. After a global campaign reaching the capitals of most major countries, a hostage deal was brokered between Israel and Hamas, with mediation by Qatar and the United States, that led to the release of 110 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Still, 132 remain held by terrorists in the Strip.
Other former hostages and families of those held spoke to Israeli media on Thursday, 104 days since the massacre of the 7th.
The youngest hostage taken, Kfir Bibas, 9-months-when he was kidnapped, celebrated his 1st birthday on Thursday. A cousin of his mother Shiri, told Israel media, “This is the saddest birthday in the world, and the world is doing nothing and nothing. There is a tiny baby in the captivity of Hamas for 104 days.” Hamas has claimed that Shiri, Kfir, and her 4-year-old, Ariel, were all killed in an Israeli airstrike, even posting a psychological warfare video telling the patriarch of the family, Yarden, that his wife and children were killed. The IDF has denied this story.
63-year-old Clara Marman, kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak and whose husband and brother are still being held, told Israeli television on Thursday “I don’t exactly feel like I’m back. In my head, I’m still there. Right now I’m making every effort to get [my husband and brother] back. The slogan, ‘The heart is there,’ for me it’s not a slogan, my heart is really captive.”
The hostages who attended the global forum of the top world leaders, diplomats, and business people were brought as guests of Israeli President Isaac Herzog in hopes of broadcasting their plight to the world. The specific meeting the hostages spoke at was hosted by Palantir and one of its co-founders, billionaire Peter Thiel. Palantir, the US-based defense and data analytics company, held its first board meeting of 2024 in Tel Aviv in an act of solidarity with the Jewish state — a meeting that led to the signing of a strategic partnership deal with the Defense Ministry.
The post Released Hostages Speak at World Economic Forum, Urge Action 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.