Released Israeli hostage Romi Gonen falls into mom's arms weeping
"First she said 'Where's my mom?' And then she saw me and she hugged me, and she was crying and I was crying, and I was telling her that I was holding her and that I'm not leaving her."
After 15 months in captivity in Gaza, Romi Gonen and her mom Meirav Leshem Gonen were finally reunited on January 19 –
::Israeli Army handout
– a moment captured by Israeli Army cameras.
Before that their last contact by phone on October 7, 2023 ended with the sound of her abductors saying: 'She's alive, let's take her.'
:: South First Responders via Telegram
Romi, then aged 23, was one of 251 people taken hostage in southern Israel, while she was at the Nova music festival.
:: South First Responders via Telegram
According to police, 364 people were shot, bludgeoned or burned to death at the event near Kibbutz Reim.
'All the details, this is something she is still processing. Some of it she told us, and some of it, most of it I guess, she didn't tell us yet. This is, I think the details she will feel free to share, once all the hostages will come back."
Romi's release was part of the first phase of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
"We didn't talk much about the captivity. She is telling us you know, funny things form the captivity. She is sharing difficult things, but she's sharing it in a kind of a humorous way. She was saying that us, the family, that she wanted to come back home to us, but the fact that she knew that we were fighting for her it was something that helped her go through the days."
Alongside their joy at her return, Romi and her family are also focused on the remaining hostages left in the Gaza Strip.
"Our life is not complete until they (all hostages) will come back, this is something Romi is saying: 'I cannot be happy, I cannot be fully happy, I cannot really gain my life back, because I know what they are going through'."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
3 hours ago
Ukraine targets Moscow as Russia reports shooting down more than 100 drones
LONDON -- Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces shot down at least 126 Ukrainian drones overnight into Thursday morning, with at least three craft intercepted over the capital Moscow region. The attack was Ukraine's largest drone barrage into Russia since it launched 167 craft into the country on July 11, according to data published by Russia's Defense Ministry and analyzed by ABC News. The latest attack saw drones downed over 11 Russian regions plus annexed Crimea, the ministry said on Thursday. Temporary flight restrictions were introduced at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport, Kaluga Grabtsevo Airport to the southwest of the capital and Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg, according to Telegram posts by Artem Korenyako, a spokesperson for Russia's federal aviation agency Rosaviatsiya. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that at least three drones were shot down on approach to the city. "Emergency services specialists are working at the site of the wreckage," he wrote. In the southwestern Voronezh region, a drone crashed into a residential building and injured three people, according to a statement published by local Gov. Alexander Gusev on Telegram. In the western Belgorod region, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said three people were killed and 17 injured by drone attacks from Wednesday afternoon through into Thursday morning. Another person was injured by a drone in the Smolensk region, which sits to the west of Moscow and borders Belarus, Gov. Vasily Anokhin said. In the Kaluga region to Moscow's southwest, a drone hit a two-story house and a 14-year-old girl was injured by glass fragments, local Gov. Vladislav Shapsha said on Telegram. Ukraine's air force, meanwhile, said Russia launched 64 drones into the country overnight, of which 41 were shot down or neutralized in flight. The air force said 23 drones impacted in five locations. As of Thursday, the death toll from a Russian airstrike on the Donetsk city of Dobropillia rose to three, according to local Gov. Vadym Filashkin. Another 27 people were injured in the strike, Filashkin said, which targeted a shopping center in the eastern city. July has marked an uptick in drone attacks launched by both Russia and Ukraine amid stalled U.S.-led efforts to secure a ceasefire deal to end Russia's 3-year-old full-scale invasion of its neighbor. On Monday, President Donald Trump set Moscow a 50-day ultimatum to agree to a ceasefire, threatening sanctions if it failed to do so. In June, Russia's Defense Ministry reported downing a total of 2,368 Ukrainian drones, with an average of almost 79 drones per day across the month. Thus far in July, the Defense Ministry said it has downed 1,516 Ukrainian drones, with a daily average of 89 drones. The scale of Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine have been increasing since May, according to figures published by the Ukrainian air force and analyzed by ABC News. In May, Russia launched a total of 3,835 drones and 117 missiles, for an average of around 124 drones and nearly four missiles each day. June saw 5,438 drones and 239 missiles fired into Ukraine, with a daily average of 181 drones and nearly eight missiles. Already in the first half of July, Ukraine has reported facing 4,067 drones and 89 missiles, for a daily average of 239 drones and more than five missiles.
Miami Herald
16 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Russia attacks Ukraine's central regions as US envoy in Kyiv
Russia launched a massive drone attack on Ukraine's central regions overnight, hitting mostly civilian infrastructure and industrial enterprises. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih as well as the city of Vinnytsia, which has largely escaped assault to date, were bombarded by dozens of drones and ballistic missiles in what local authorities said was one of the heaviest attacks since the war's begin. "Russia is not changing its strategy - and to counter this terror effectively, we need to systematically strengthen our defenses: more air defense systems, more interceptors, and more determination - so that Russia feels our response," Zelenskyy said in a post on X commenting the consequences of the attack. The attacks came just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said Patriot air defense missiles were already being shipped from Germany as his administration pledged fresh weapons supplies on Monday. Russian drones struck Kyiv as U.S. special envoy Keith Kellogg continues his week-long visit to the Ukrainian capital. Air defenses could be heard in operation in the city overnight, though major casualties were not reported. Trump's pledge came with the condition that new weapons for Kyiv would be paid for by NATO allies, mainly from Europe, and threatened harsh financial penalties targeting Russian oil sales if Russian leader Vladimir Putin doesn't end his war on Ukraine within 50 days. The U.S. president, who has voiced skepticism of arming Ukraine, changed course after saying he was "very disappointed" by a phone call with Putin, in which the Russian leader insisted he wouldn't back down on his war aims. Energy infrastructure was targeted in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy said, adding that 15 people were injured across the country, including one child. Kryvyi Rih, a city of around 650,000 that includes many who fled from Mariupol - devastated by Russian artillery earlier in the conflict - faces power and water supply cuts, Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said on Telegram. Zelenskyy also said Russia also attacked the north-eastern Kharkiv and Sumy regions as well as the Odesa region in Ukraine's south, hitting civilian infrastructure. Ukraine's Air Defense said it shot down almost 200 of the 400 drones launched from Russian regions, with another 145 drones jammed. _____ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
Former 21-year-old soldier stationed in Texas pleads guilty to hacking, extortion scheme
TEXAS (WHNT) — A former U.S. Army soldier stationed at Fort Cavazos entered a guilty plea in federal court Tuesday. According to federal documents and the U.S. Department of Justice, 21-year-old Cameron John Wagenius used online accounts associated with the nickname 'kiberphant0m' to conspire with 3 other people to defraud at least 10 victim organizations. The DOJ said Wagenius did so by obtaining login credentials for the organization's protected computer networks between April 2023 and December 18, 2024. Huntsville International Airport sets monthly passenger traffic record for June The DOJ said the conspirators obtained the credentials using a hacking tool called SSH Brute, among other names. The DOJ said they used Telegram group chats to transfer the stolen credentials and talk about gaining access to victim companies' networks. The release says all of this happened while Wagenius was on active duty with the U.S. Army. 'After data was stolen, the conspirators extorted the victim organizations both privately and in public forums. The extortion attempts included threats to post the stolen data on cybercrime forums such as BreachForums and The conspirators offered to sell stolen data for thousands of dollars via posts on these forums. They successfully sold at least some of this stolen data and also used stolen data to perpetuate other frauds, including SIM-swapping. In total, Wagenius and his co-conspirators attempted to extort at least $1 million from victim data owners.' U.S. Department of Justice The plea agreement says Wagenius and the co-conspirators, after gaining access to the victim's accounts, threatened to leak the stolen data unless a ransom was paid. From there, the federal document says the conspirators worked to gain access to 'hundreds of thousands' of sensitive business and customer records. This information included non-content call and text history records, telecommunication identifying information and other personally identifiable information. Some examples of the messages sent to the victims are listed below, per federal documents. 'At least on or about April 23, 2023, until at least June 16, 2023, Defendant, Co-Conspirator-1 and others participated in a Telegram group chat. The chat members repeatedly discussed stealing computer credentials, including through brute force attacks used to guess username and password combinations, and transferred stolen credentials among themselves.' DOJ Plea Agreement Document '[I]n or about May 2024, Defendant and Co-Conspirator-1 accessed the computer systems of Victim-1, a telecommunications company located overseas, and stole information pertaining to hundreds of thousands of Victim-1's customers. This stolen information included International Mobile Subscriber Identity, SIM card numbers, maskerkey, and other information needed to successfully clone SIM cards.' DOJ Plea Agreement Document '[I[n or about August and September 2024, Defendant, Co-Conspirator-1, Co-Conspirator-2, and Co-Conspirator-3 accessed the protected computer systems of Victim-3, a tecnology company located in the United States and stole information pertaining to thousands of Victim-2's customers, including telephone numbers belonging to real people who were Victim-2's customers. Victim-2 was a telecommunications company located in the United States, and some of Vicitm-2's stolen data was hosted on Victim-3's computer systems located in Texas and North Carolina.' DOJ Plea Agreement Document 'Defendant and others publicly and privately extorted victims by threatening to sell or otherwise distribute their stolen data unless the victims paid ransoms. They did so through online posts on online cybercrim forums catering to criminals, such as BreachForums and Telegram channels dedicated to online frauds and other cybercrimes; direct messages on Telegram; and other online platforms such as X (formerly known as Twitter). Some of these posts and messages offered to sell the data in exchange for fiat currency and cryptocurrency, while others attempted to extort the victim companies, requesting payment in order to avoid publication of the stolen data. Some posts also published sample data stolen from the victims. The platforms on which these posts were made could be accessed from computers located anywhere in the world, including the Western District of Washington.' DOJ Plea Agreement Document '[O]n or about October 22, 2024, Defendant contacted Victim-2 and wrote, 'If I'm not contacted all 358+ [gigabytes] of data on the [Victim-2] network will be released.' Defendant sent this message, which was transmitted in interstate and foreign commerce, as part of Defendant's efforts to extort a ransom payment from Victim-2. DOJ Plea Agreement Document '[O]n or about November 6, 2024, Defendant sent multiple emails to Victim-4, a telecommunications company located in the United States, sharing sample stolen data and threatening to leak more online unless he was paid '500k USD in the form of cryptocurrency.' Defendant stated, '[i]n the event of [Co-Conspirator-2's] arrest I was to takeover negotiations.' DOJ Plea Agreement Document The department said on Tuesday, Wagenius pleaded guilty to the following charges: Conspiracy to commit wire fraud Extortion in relation to computer fraud Aggravated identity theft. Tri-agency traffic enforcement targets excessive speeding on I-565 He is currently scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 6 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a maximum penalty of five years in prison for extortion in relation to computer fraud, and a mandatory two-year sentence consecutive to any other prison time for aggravated identity theft. Wagenius was first indicted on December 18, 2024, in Seattle, Washington, federal court documents say. The plea agreement, obtained by News 19, says Wagenius waived his right to be charged by indictment as well as waived his right to have the incident tried before a jury. As a result of these waivers, he agreed to enter a guilty plea. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
