The terror, the protests and the reunion: Efrat Machikawa's life since the Israel-Hamas war
Nearly 500 days after the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that shattered their world, cultural diplomat turned activist Efrat Machikawa's family gathered for a long-awaited moment. Her uncle, 80-year-old Gadi Moses, was finally returning home.
Moses was among 25 Israeli hostages released alive since a truce pact between Israel and Hamas came into effect on Jan. 19. Of the at least 252 hostages taken during the 2023 assault, 63 remain in the Gaza Strip as of Monday, around half of whom the Israeli government believes to be dead.
"My heart was beating out of my chest and, before I knew it, I was running to him — like a little girl racing into the arms of her strong, wonderful uncle. It was a fleeting moment of innocence, a love beyond words.
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Japan Today
3 hours ago
- Japan Today
Britain and allies impose sanctions on Israeli far-right ministers for 'inciting violence'
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Japan Today
4 hours ago
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Expanding missile threats and airspace closures are straining airlines
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"Flight planning in this kind of environment is extremely difficult … The airline industry thrives on predictability, and the absence of this will always drive greater cost," said Guy Murray, who leads aviation security at European carrier TUI Airline. With increasing airspace closures around Russia and Ukraine, throughout the Middle East, between India and Pakistan and in parts of Africa, airlines are left with fewer route options. "Compared to five years ago, more than half of the countries being overflown on a typical Europe-Asia flight would now need to be carefully reviewed before each flight," said Mark Zee, founder of OPSGROUP, a membership-based organization that shares flight risk information. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East since October 2023 led to commercial aviation sharing the skies with short-notice barrages of drones and missiles across major flight paths – some of which were reportedly close enough to be seen by pilots and passengers. Russian airports, including in Moscow, are now regularly shut down for brief periods due to drone activity, while interference with navigation systems, known as GPS spoofing or jamming, is surging around political fault lines worldwide. When hostilities broke out between India and Pakistan last month, the neighbors blocked each other's aircraft from their respective airspace. "Airspace should not be used as a retaliatory tool, but it is," Nick Careen, International Air Transport Association (IATA) senior vice president for operations, safety and security, told reporters at the airline body's annual meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday. Isidre Porqueras, chief operating officer at Indian carrier IndiGo, said the recent diversions were undoing efforts to reduce emissions and increase airline efficiencies. WORST-CASE SCENARIO Finances aside, civil aviation's worst-case scenario is a plane being hit, accidentally or intentionally, by weaponry. 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TOUGH CHOICES Each airline decides where to travel based on a patchwork of government notices, security advisers, and information-sharing between carriers and states, leading to divergent policies. The closure of Russian airspace to most Western carriers since the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022 put them at a cost disadvantage compared to airlines from places like China, India and the Middle East that continue to take shorter northern routes that need less fuel and fewer crew. Shifting risk calculations mean Singapore Airlines' flight SQ326 from Singapore to Amsterdam has used three different routes into Europe in just over a year, Flightradar24 tracking data shows. When reciprocal missile and drone attacks broke out between Iran and Israel in April 2024, it started crossing previously avoided Afghanistan instead of Iran. Last month, its route shifted again to avoid Pakistan's airspace as conflict escalated between India and Pakistan. Flight SQ326 now reaches Europe via the Persian Gulf and Iraq. Singapore Airlines did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Pilots and flight attendants are also worried about how the patchwork of shifting risk might impact their safety. "IATA says airlines should decide if it's safe to fly over conflict zones, not regulators. But history shows commercial pressures can cloud those decisions," said Paul Reuter, vice president of the European Cockpit Association, which represents pilots. Flight crew typically have the right to refuse a trip due to concerns about airspace, whether over weather or conflict zones, IATA security head Careen said. "Most airlines, in fact, I would say the vast majority of them, do not want crew on an aircraft if they don't feel comfortable flying," he said. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Japan Today
4 hours ago
- Japan Today
Israel's Netanyahu says significant progress made in talks to release hostages
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