The families of hostages held in Gaza hope for their own ceasefire after truce in Israel-Iran war
Liran Berman, brother of twins Ziv and Gali Berman, who were abducted from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, 2023, and held in the Gaza Strip, poses for a portrait at home with his family dog, Barbie, in Or Akiva, Israel, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
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CTV News
11 hours ago
- CTV News
The families of hostages held in Gaza hope for their own ceasefire after truce in Israel-Iran war
Liran Berman, brother of twins Ziv and Gali Berman, who were abducted from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, 2023, and held in the Gaza Strip, poses for a portrait at home with his family dog, Barbie, in Or Akiva, Israel, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)
CBC
a day ago
- CBC
Iranian government turns to internal crackdown with arrests, executions
Social Sharing Iranian authorities are pivoting from a ceasefire with Israel to intensify an internal security crackdown across the country with mass arrests, executions and military deployments, particularly in the restive Kurdish region, officials and activists say. Within days of Israel's airstrikes beginning on June 13, Iranian security forces started a campaign of widespread arrests accompanied by an intensified street presence based around checkpoints, sources have told CBC and Reuters. One man in Tehran, who responded to a CBC News callout via WhatsApp but did not provide his name, said Wednesday that security officers are stopping people at pop-up checkpoints around the city and asking them to show their phones and open their messaging apps. "It will take you only one tweet or one social network post to be arrested if the content is believed sensitive by the state," he said. Another man told CBC he feels "a deep sense of fear" that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his regime may have secured their survival and will turn their anger inward as they did in the 1980s, with crackdowns on their own people and mass executions. Some in Israel and exiled opposition groups had hoped the military campaign, which targeted Revolutionary Guards and internal security forces as well as nuclear sites, would spark a mass uprising and the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. But Alam Saleh, speaking with CBC from Tehran Wednesday, said he knows many Iranians who were critical of the regime and have changed tone in recent days, now rallying around the flag in the face of what they see as an unprovoked and unjustified war. "What was the point, what Israel and United States has achieved, in bombing Iran for 12 days?" Saleh said. "The only thing that they probably achieved is to make Iran never, never again trust these two countries." WATCH | Canadian-Iranian talks about the war: CBC's Rosemary Barton speaks with Canadian-Iranian Mina Morshed about Israel-Iran war 3 hours ago Duration 3:38 Get the latest on the CBC News App, and CBC News Network for breaking news and analysis. There has been no sign yet of any significant protests against the authorities. However, one senior Iranian security official and two other senior officials briefed on internal security issues said the authorities were focused on the threat of possible internal unrest, particularly in Kurdish areas. Revolutionary Guard and Basij paramilitary units were put on alert and internal security was now the primary focus, said the senior security official. The official said authorities were worried about Israeli agents, ethnic separatists and the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran, an exiled opposition group that has previously staged attacks inside Iran. Activists within the country are lying low. "We are being extremely cautious right now because there's a real concern the regime might use this situation as a pretext," a rights activist in Tehran, who was jailed during mass protests in 2022, told Reuters. The activist said he knew dozens of people who had been summoned by authorities and either arrested or warned against any expressions of dissent. Kurdish groups say they're being targeted Iranian rights group HRNA said on Monday it had recorded arrests of 705 people on political or security charges since the start of the war. Many of those arrested have been accused of spying for Israel, HRNA said. Iranian state media reported three were executed on Tuesday in Urmia, near the Turkish border, and the Iranian-Kurdish rights group Hengaw said they were all Kurdish. Iran's Foreign and Interior Ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Israelis, Iranians skeptical of lasting ceasefire 20 hours ago Duration 4:25 One of the officials briefed on security said troops had been deployed to the borders of Pakistan, Iraq and Azerbaijan to stop infiltration by what the official called terrorists. The other official briefed on security acknowledged that hundreds had been arrested. Iran's mostly Sunni Muslim Kurdish and Baluch minorities have long been a source of opposition to the Islamic Republic, chafing against rule from the Persian-speaking, Shia government in Tehran. The three main Iranian Kurdish separatist factions based in Iraqi Kurdistan said some of their activists and fighters had been arrested and described widespread military and security movements by Iranian authorities. Ribaz Khalili from the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) said Revolutionary Guards units had deployed in schools in Iran's Kurdish provinces within three days of Israel's strikes beginning and gone house-to-house for suspects and arms. The Guards had taken protective measures too, evacuating an industrial zone near their barracks and closing major roads for their own use in bringing reinforcements to Kermanshah and Sanandaj, two major cities in the Kurdish region. A cadre from the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), who gave her nom de guerre of Fatma Ahmed, said the party had counted more than 500 opposition members being detained in Kurdish provinces since the airstrikes began. Ahmed and an official from the Kurdish Komala party, who spoke on condition of anonymity, both described checkpoints being set up across Kurdish areas with physical searches of people as well as checks of their phones and documents.
Toronto Sun
a day ago
- Toronto Sun
KINSELLA: Rescued Israeli carries 'pain' -- and also hope for remaining hostages
HUNTER: Suspected serial killer was also eyed in '91 murder of Toronto woman KINSELLA: Rescued Israeli carries 'pain' -- and also hope for remaining hostages Noa Argamani was kidnapped from the Nova festival along with her boyfriend, who she hasn't seen since Article content In a week of terrible news — antisemitic protests getting worse in Toronto and elsewhere, an Israel-hating candidate coming first in the New York City Democratic primary, polls showing a substantial number opposing Donald Trump's justifiable attempt to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program — there is some good news. There is. Advertisement 2 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account or Sign in without password View more offers Article content It comes in the form of a quiet, almost-shy young woman, Noa Argamani. Article content tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or KINSELLA: Rescued Israeli carries 'pain' -- and also hope for remaining hostages Back to video tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Play Video Article content You may be unfamiliar with Noa's name, but you have probably heard about the 28-year-old Israeli's story. It is an extraordinary one, and it is a story that provides some hope in dark and dangerous times. On Oct. 7, 2023, Noa and her boyfriend, Avinatan Or, were at the Nova Music Festival in Israel's south. Early on the morning of that terrible day, hundreds of Hamas terrorists descended on the festival site, and commenced killing and raping and torturing the young people who had gathered there. Nearly 350 of them were killed that day, and many more were wounded, some grievously. Some 44 were taken hostage by Hamas. Noa and Avinatan were among them. Your Midday Sun Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. There was an error, please provide a valid email address. Sign Up By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Your Midday Sun will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Article content Advertisement 3 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content AP Hamas filmed much of it, and posted their crimes online. In one video clip, Noa is seen being taken away on the back of a motorcycle by a Palestinian civilian, calling out: 'Don't kill me!' Her arms are outstretched, reaching for Avinatan. It would be the last time she saw him. She was abused and starved while in captivity, just like all the other hostages. Her China-born mother, dying of brain cancer, was cruelly tormented by Hamas videos claiming that Noa had been killed in Israeli airstrikes. She was alive, however. And, one year ago this month, Noa and three other hostages were rescued by the IDF, Shin Bet and Israeli police in a joint operation at the Nuseirat refugee camp. Noa was whisked back to Israel and able to see her mother, who died just a few days later. Advertisement 4 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Photo by Israeli Army / AFP via Getty Images This week, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) brought Noa to meet people in Canada. The JNF, a charity which plants trees and builds facilities for the needy in Israel, has itself been targeted by Canada's national government in another kind of vicious, misguided campaign. The JNF somehow found the resources to sponsor Noa here. And that's when I met her, and spoke with her in Toronto and London. I asked her what kept her going, after 245 long days in captivity. Her mom, she said. 'I knew that her situation was not going very well,' she said to me, 'so I knew that I had to keep going. I had to survive, to see my mother again.' What happened to her and her boyfriend? And what does she know about her boyfriend Avinatan's fate? 'When we saw the rockets over our heads, we tried to escape. We got into our car, and we tried. Our car got stuck and we tried to hide, for four hours, but the terrorists found us.' Advertisement 5 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content She is absolutely convinced, she says, that he is alive. Wherever Hamas and her Palestinian captors took her, she asked about him. 'I asked about him everywhere,' she says. 'Is he OK? Is he here? Sometimes I was afraid to know the answer.' But she believes he is one of the 20 remaining hostages who is still alive, she says. Noa Argamani is one of the few hostages who was rescued by the IDF — and one of the very few who has a loved one still being held. Asked if she feels better to be free again, she shakes her head a little bit. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Play Video 'It's really hard for me,' she says. 'I feel like my heart is still in captivity. I'm trying to do my best, I'm trying to go back to university to finish my degree … But I feel pain. I feel the pain every day, every morning, when I wake up. So I ask myself: What can I do to push for all the hostages to be brought home? Right now, I just can't go any further. I can't plan for my future.' Her focus is the hostages, now. Whenever we spoke, she kept a photo of Avinatan nearby. There is the war with Iran, she says, there is the ongoing war with Hamas and Iran's other proxies — and there is Avinatan and the others. It is a sad and difficult time. 'We need to bring them home,' she says. 'I fear that some people will forget about the hostages, and the world will look away. We can't afford that. I need to keep reminding them until my partner, and all of them, are home.' And that would be very, very good news, indeed. Photo by Corey Herscu Article content Share this article in your social network Read Next
