Report: Israeli military expects Edan Alexander exchange in next hour
The Israeli military estimates that American-Israeli captive Edan Alexander will be handed over to the Red Cross within the next hour, Israel's Maariv news site reported.
The military has stationed its tanks and armoured carriers near the expected handover site east of Khan Younis in case of emergency, according to Maariv.
Upon his arrival, Alexander will undergo an initial medical examination at the Reim base, speak with a psychologist and Shin Bet investigators, shower, and then be transferred by Air Force helicopter to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
27 minutes ago
- Middle East Eye
Five killed, dozens wounded in Israeli strike on northern Gaza
At least five people have been killed and 30 others wounded after an Israeli air raid targeted a residential home in Jabalia al-Balad, in northern Gaza, according to medical staff at the Baptist Hospital. Doctors say the casualties arrived following the bombing, which struck a densely populated area already reeling from repeated attacks.
Gulf Today
an hour ago
- Gulf Today
Are you guilty of wellness bypassing? Probably
Sam Parker, The Independent I once lived a perfect day. It started with sitting cross-legged by an open window for 30 minutes of meditation, with morning light beaming vitamin D directly into my face. After that, it was time to stretch: one, two, three sun salutations, timing the movement of my limbs to long, deep breaths. In the shower, I slowly turned the warm water to cold in order to flood my system with endorphins, before stepping out and repeating a round of positive affirmations into the mirror. In the evening, I chewed my dinner mindfully before switching on the TV. Then, two hours before bed, I put away all my screens and lit some candles. By the flickering flames, I wrote down all my worries in a journal and bullet-pointed how I'd tackle them the next day, before listing the multitudinous reasons I had in my life to be deeply, truly grateful. With eight full hours left before I needed to be up again, I lay down on my pillow, closed my eyes, took a round of deep, calming breaths and finally... panicked. The lure of the wellness industry can be incredibly strong, particularly if you suffer from anxiety. All my life I had experienced periods of vague, oppressive dread that could make entire weeks a misery, and in recent years, it had started to feel like the solution was only ever one more swipe away. My algorithm served up an endless well of gurus advocating journalling or diaphragmatic breathing or running in your underwear through the frozen tundras of Norway. I dabbled in all of it (OK, not the Norway one), figuring if I just landed on the perfectly optimised mental health routine, I'd banish my doom for good. The fact that no combination of these activities seemed to work made me quietly fear I might be broken, that anxiety was simply my lot in life. In 1984, the American psychotherapist John Welwood coined the phrase 'spiritual bypassing'. He used it to describe people in the hippie movement who used then-exotic practices like yoga and meditation as a substitute for working on deeper problems with their mental health. There is a 'widespread tendency', he warned, 'to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues (and) psychological wounds'. Welwood believed psychology and spiritualism could complement each other, but said he saw too many people trying to shortcut their way to inner peace and 'rise above the raw and messy side of [their] humanness before (they) have fully faced and made peace with it'. Fifty years on, we are now living in an age of wellness bypassing. The global wellness industry is worth $5.6 trillion, buoyed by an endless tide of Instagram-friendly self-care tips often presented as quick fixes for low moods, depression or anxiety. In many cases, the science backing them is spurious at best. An investigation published by The Guardian last week found that more than 50 per cent of the top trending videos offering mental health advice on TikTok contain misinformation. These spanned misleading claims about the powers of saffron and magnesium glycinate to dubious methods promising to 'heal trauma within an hour'. One theory posited that you can reduce anxiety by eating an orange in the shower (surely only true if you're anxious about having sticky fingers while you eat fruit). Jevin D West is the co-author of a book called Calling Bullshit: The Art of Scepticism in a Date-Driven World and leads research teams attempting to fight back against misinformation online. Health and wellness, West tells me, is the biggest problem area of all. 'Nothing comes even close to its ability to attract people's attention and convince them to let their guard down,' he says. 'There is the outright disinformation, of course, that has an intentional element. But a huge part of what we've seen is misleading content. Maybe it has some elements of truth. It might even be citing relevant science. But often, it's about an area there isn't much research on.' Take shilajit, for example, the tar-like supplement purported to boost testosterone. West's number one piece of advice for consuming online content is an oldie but a goodie: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Healing your decades-old family trauma by 'cozymaxxing' is probably not going to cut it. But he acknowledges that, even for savvy social media users, this can be incredibly difficult to follow. 'Because we want to be convinced,' he says. 'We want that elixir that can fix this emotional issue we might have. We want to believe.' We also want to belong.
Dubai Eye
a day ago
- Dubai Eye
GHF suspends Gaza aid sites after shootings, Israeli shelling kills 10 in Jabalia
Ten Palestinians were killed by Israeli tank fire in Gaza on Friday, local health authorities said, as a US group handing out aid in the enclave said all its distribution sites were closed until further notice. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the report of the 10 deaths in Jabalia in the north of the war-shattered Gaza Strip. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) meanwhile urged residents to stay away from aid distribution venues "for their safety" after a series of deadly shootings. GHF, which last week started handing out meals to hungry Palestinians inside Gaza, said that a reopening date would be announced later. The GHF opened two sites in southern Gaza on Thursday after closing all of its centres the previous day in the wake of shootings in the vicinity of its operations. It has so far operated four distribution centres. The organisation bypasses traditional relief agencies and has been criticised by humanitarian organisations, including the United Nations, for alleged lack of neutrality, which it denies. GHF halted distributions on Wednesday and said it was pressing Israeli forces to improve civilian safety beyond the perimeter of its operations after dozens of Palestinians were shot dead near the Rafah site over three consecutive days. The Israeli military said on Sunday and Monday that its soldiers had fired warning shots. On Tuesday, it said, forces also fired warning shots before firing towards Palestinians that it said were advancing towards troops. GHF has said that aid was safely handed out from its sites without any incident. Israel has re-intensified an offensive against Gaza's dominant Hamas group since breaking a two-month-old ceasefire in March in a war triggered by Hamas' cross-border attack on October 7, 2023.
