Hostage families ‘alarmed' as Israeli troops push into area where loved ones are believed to be held
The Israel Defense Forces launched mass air raids and a ground operation in central Gaza targeting Deir al-Balah for the first time, the only remaining area of the Strip that has not suffered significant damage from the 21-month-old war.
Its exclusion from Israel's previous bombing campaign is believed to be because Hamas may be holding some of the remaining 50 hostages in that area, with the captives' loved ones fearing that the new military operation may put them in danger.
3 The Israeli military began firing airstrikes and tank shells in Deir Al-Balah, where some of the remaining 50 hostages are believed to be held.
REUTERS
Advertisement
3 The families of the hostages demanded answers from Israeli lawmakers about the operation that could risk the lives of the 20 hostages believed to be alive.
Instagram/@amitfrid1
'The families demand that the prime minister, defense minister, chief of staff, and IDF spokesperson appear before them and the Israeli public this evening to clearly explain why the offensive in the Deir al-Balah area does not put the hostages at serious risk,' the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
'The people of Israel will not forgive anyone who knowingly endangered the hostages — both the living and the deceased. No one will be able to claim they didn't know what was at stake,' the forum added.
Advertisement
At least 20 of the 50 hostages are believed to be alive, with no word yet on when they would be freed as the cease-fire talks between Hamas and Israel have yet to yield any results.
The Israeli military put out an order for all Palestinians to evacuate the city on Sunday, dropping thousands of leaflets into the area.
3 Protests have carried on in Tel Aviv demanding a cease-fire deal to free the hostages.
REUTERS
The air raids began early Monday, with Israeli tanks seen pushing into the city later as shells reportedly hit several houses and mosques in Deir al-Balah, according to medics operating in Gaza.
Advertisement
The Israeli military has yet to comment on the ongoing operation in the city.
The United Nations condemned the fighting in Deir al-Balah as it would force Palestinians to lose one of its last safe harbors from a war that has devastated the rest of the enclave.
'With this latest order, the area of Gaza under displacement orders or within Israeli-militarized zones has risen to 87.8%, leaving 2.1 million civilians squeezed into a fragmented 12% of the strip, where essential services have collapsed,' the UN said in a statement released by its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Advertisement
The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza has complicated the cease-fire talks, with a Hamas official telling Reuters that the group was outraged over the constant wave of deaths at food distribution centers.
At least 67 were killed on Sunday after Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd of people waiting for a UN aid truck to enter Gaza, with the military claiming it was under 'an immediate threat.'
With Post wires
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
8 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Released Israeli-Argentinian hostage fights for brother still held by Hamas
KFAR SABA, Israel (AP) — As Israel has announced steps to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza, a former Israeli-Argentinian hostage knows first-hand what that could mean for captives of the Hamas militant group. Iair Horn, who spent a year and a half in captivity, said hostages could tell when more aid was available because they would receive more food. 'When there's less food, then there's also less for the hostages. When there's aid, there's a possibility you might get a cucumber,' said Horn, 46. Hamas militants kidnapped Horn from his home at Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with 250 other people, during the group's cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023. He was released Feb. 15 after 498 days in captivity. For most of that time, he was held in an underground cell in a tunnel with several other hostages, including his younger brother Eitan Horn, 38. Since his release, Iair Horn has deferred his own recovery to fight for the release of his brother and the other 50 hostages still being held in Gaza, 20 of whom are still believed to be alive. Negotiations collapse again Hearing that negotiations between Israel and Hamas were once again frozen over the weekend was devastating for his family, Horn said. Since his release, he has made four trips to the U.S., where he has met with President Donald Trump and other American leaders to plead for the hostages. He wasn't sure what to make of a comment Thursday by President Donald Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff, who said the U.S. would consider 'alternative options' after recalling its negotiating team from Qatar. 'I'm not a politician, and I'm not getting into those things because I don't understand them. What I understand is very simple: I want my brother back,' Horn said. 'My life is frozen right now. I live in a nightmare that every day they are kidnapping me anew,' he said. Horn, who is single, is currently living with family in Kfar Saba, a city near Tel Aviv. Previously, he worked a variety of jobs in Kibbutz Nir Oz, including in education, maintenance and the kitchen. He also ran the kibbutz pub. Every morning when he opens his eyes, he must think for a few moments to remember where he is, to remember he is no longer a hostage, Horn said. He's gained back some of the weight he lost in captivity, but his list of physical and psychological ailments is long. He does not know where he will live, what he will do in the future, or if he will go back to Nir Oz. The only thing he concentrates on is advocating for his brother's release. 'I never imagined that another half year would pass without seeing my little brother,' he said. Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 59,700 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The agency's count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians, but the ministry says that more than half of the dead are women and children. The U.N. and other international organizations see the ministry, which operates under the Hamas government, as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Brothers were held together Iair Horn is the oldest of three brothers who grew up in Argentina. He moved to Israel at age 20, followed by his middle brother, Amos. Eitan and their parents, long divorced, joined later. On Oct. 7, 2023, Eitan was visiting Iair at his home on Kibbutz Nir Oz when the sirens started, warning of incoming missiles. Soon they received text messages alerting them to the fact that militants had infiltrated the kibbutz. Militants entered Iair's home, where he was hiding in the reinforced safe room with Eitan. Iair attempted to hold the door shut until they began shooting through the door. Then he decided to surrender, worried they might use grenades or stronger weapons. Iair, who was immediately taken into Gaza, didn't know what had happened to his brother until around the 50th day of his captivity, when the militants placed the two brothers together, and Iair realized Eitan had also been kidnapped. Being together, even in their small, barred room, was a stroke of luck, Iair said. 'There's a lot of time with nothing to do, and we talked a lot about our childhoods, about elementary school, about the youth movement, about soccer,' he said. 'We tried to keep our sense of humor. He would ask me, did you brush your teeth? And I'd ask him, did you wash your bellybutton?' 'It was silly things, silly things between siblings that I don't have right now. Many times it happens now that something happens to me on the street that I have to tell him. And I can't, and I'm so sorry,' he said, starting to cry. Captors tell hostages that two will be released For most of the time, the Horn brothers were held with three other hostages. In early February, their captors came to the group of five and said that two would be released. 'For four days, we're looking at each other and wondering if we can decide or influence the decision,' he said. After four days, the captors arrived with a small plate of snacks and a video camera. They announced that Iair and another hostage would be leaving and filmed the emotional interaction between Iair and Eitan. Hamas later released the video on its social media channels, as it has with other videos of the hostages filmed under duress. Their last night together, Eitan and Iair laid side by side in silence. 'There was no conversation because in your head you don't want to have a conversation as if it's your last conversation,' Iair Horn said. When their mother, Ruty Chmiel Strum, learned that Iair was coming out but not Eitan, she said to anyone who would listen, "Why are you doing this to my sons? They are together and you're separating them?' No one gave her an answer, but Strum clung to hope that Eitan would be released soon. Now she mostly ignores news about the negotiations, tuning out the information to protect herself. She said she raised her three boys 'as a single body,' and their support for each other is unshakable. She clasps Iair's hand as they sit together on the couch in her home and looks forward to the day Eitan returns. 'I will feel the hug of my three sons, enjoying life, each supporting each other," she said. "It will happen.'
Yahoo
8 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Ministers gather at UN for delayed meeting on Israel, Palestinians
By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -Dozens of ministers will gather at the United Nations on Monday for a delayed conference to work toward a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, but the U.S. and Israel are boycotting the event. The 193-member U.N. General Assembly decided in September last year that such a conference would be held in 2025. Hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, the conference was postponed in June after Israel attacked Iran. The conference aims to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel's security. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told newspaper La Tribune Dimanche in an interview published on Sunday that he will also use the conference this week to push other countries to join France in recognizing a Palestinian state. France intends to recognize a Palestinian state in September at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, President Emmanuel Macron said last week. "We will launch an appeal in New York so that other countries join us to initiate an even more ambitious and demanding dynamic that will culminate on September 21," Barrot said, adding that he expected Arab countries by then to condemn Palestinian militants Hamas and call for their disarmament. The conference comes as a 22-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza still rages. The war was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's military campaign has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. The U.S. will not attend the conference at the United Nations, said a State Department spokesperson, describing it as "a gift to Hamas, which continues to reject ceasefire proposals accepted by Israel that would lead to the release of hostages and bring calm in Gaza." The State Department spokesperson added that Washington voted against the General Assembly last year calling for the conference and would "not support actions that jeopardize the prospect for a long-term, peaceful resolution to the conflict." Israel is also not taking part in the conference, "which doesn't first urgently address the issue of condemning Hamas and returning all of the remaining hostages," said Jonathan Harounoff, international spokesperson at Israel's U.N. mission. The U.N. has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war with neighboring Arab states. The U.N. General Assembly in May last year overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full U.N. member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending the U.N. Security Council "reconsider the matter favorably." The resolution garnered 143 votes in favor and nine against. The General Assembly vote was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full U.N. member - a move that would effectively recognize a Palestinian state - after the U.S. vetoed it in the U.N. Security Council several weeks earlier.
Boston Globe
9 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Can his golf course ‘further' US-UK relations? Trump will use meeting with prime minister to try.
During his first term in 2019, Trump posted of his Turnberry property, 'Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship!' Starmer is not a golfer, but toggling between Trump's Scottish courses shows the outsized influence the president puts on properties bearing his name — and on golf's ability to shape geopolitics. Advertisement While China initially responded to Trump's tariff threats by retaliating with high import taxes of its own on U.S. goods but has since begun negotiating easing trade tensions, Starmer and his country have taken a far softer approach. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up He's gone out of his way to work with Trump, flattering the president repeatedly during a February visit to the White House, and teaming up to announce a joint trade framework on tariffs for some key products in May. Starmer and Trump then signed a trade agreement during the G7 summit in Canada that freed the U.K.'s aerospace sector from U.S. tariffs and used quotas to reduce them on auto-related industries from 25% to 10% while increasing the amount of U.S. beef it pledged to import. The prime minister's office says Monday's meeting will also touch on Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, and that it hopes to welcome the Trump administration working with officials in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire. Advertisement Starmer plans to stress the urgent need to cease the fighting and work to end starvation and other suffering occurring amid increasingly desperate circumstances in Gaza. Also on the agenda, according to Starmer's office, are efforts to promote a possible peace deal to end fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine — particularly efforts at forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table in the next 50 days. Protesters, meanwhile, have planned a demonstration in Balmedie, near Trump's existing course, after demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday to decry the president's visit. Discussions with Starmer follow Trump meeting Sunday with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry course. They announced a trade framework that will put 15% tariffs on most goods from both countries — though many major details remain pending. On Tuesday, Trump will be at the site of his new course near Aberdeen for an official ribbon cutting. It opens to the public on Aug. 13 and tee times are already for sale — with the course betting that a presidential visit can help boost sales. There are still lingering U.S.-Britain trade issues that need fine-tuning after the previous agreements, including the tariff rates Washington imposes on steel imported from the U.K. Even as some trade details linger and both leaders grapple with increasingly difficult choices in Gaza and Ukraine, however, Starmer's attempts to stay on Trump's good side appears to be working. 'The U.K. is very well-protected. You know why? Because I like them — that's their ultimate protection,' Trump said during the G7. Advertisement Also likely to improve Trump's mood is the fact that the U.S. ran an $11.4 billion trade surplus with Britain last year, meaning it exported more to the U.K. than it imported. Census Bureau figures this year indicate that the surplus could grow. The president has for months railed against yawning U.S. trade deficits with key allies and sees tariffs as a way to try and close them in hurry. Trump is set to return to Britain in September for an unprecedented second state visit. Trump will be hosted then by King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle.
