Latest news with #HershGoldbergPolin
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Former hostage Or Levy opens up about learning of wife's murder, time with Hersh Goldberg-Polin
Former Gaza hostage Or Levy learned upon his release that his wife Einav was murdered by Hamas. Former hostage Or Levy, who was held by Hamas for 491 days, opened up about his experience in captivity, learning of his wife's murder and his time with murdered American-Israeli former hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, in a CNN interview published on Thursday. 'It's hard to understand how difficult it is to live on one pita a day for 491 days … no human should live like that,' Levy said. 'And for the people that are still there, I know those days were even worse than what I've been through – and it's scary.' Returning to Almog and learning of Einav's murder Upon his release, Levy was able to return to his son Almog who was only 2 years old when he last saw his father. However, Levy learned that his wife Einav had been one of over 1200 victims murdered by Hamas on October 7, 2023. The young mother was killed as terrorists flung grenades into a bomb shelter. When he was greeted by an IDF representative on the day of his release, he immediately asked about Einav. 'I asked her about my wife. I told her that I think I know, but I'm not 100% certain, and that I want to know,' Levy said. 'And then she told me.' Throughout his captivity, Levy said he was too afraid to ask his terrorist captor's about the status of Einav despite his suspicions. Time with Hersh Goldberg-Polin He focused his energies on returning to his son, a strategy he said Goldberg-Polin had taught him. 'I remember Hersh telling me this sentence … 'He who has a 'why' can bear any 'how','' Levy recalled. When life in the tunnels became too difficult, he recounted how Goldberg-Polin would encourage him to think of returning to Almog. Now four, Levy feared that young Almog would not remember him - a fear that was put to rest when the two were finally reunited. Though, he explained now that he was tasked with the difficulty of explaining to Almog that his mother would not be returning. 'The story that we told – that he knows – is that a big bomb happened and that unfortunately, mom is dead and I was taken to a far place, and people were trying to get me home,' Levy said. 'So he asks – he asks about his mom, about what happened to her, about who caused it? And he asked me about my wounds. He asked me again, why didn't I take him with me to this far place?' Levy told CNN how he shares stories of Einav constantly and that he and his son look at her photos. Levy shared that while he is now free, his thoughts are still with the 50 remaining hostages in Hamas captivity. 'The fact that people are still there haunts me in the night,' Levy said. 'I think that nothing is worth more than getting those people home,' Levy said. 'I know that we need to push on to get a deal that gets everyone home and finish everything. Finish everything.'
CTV News
13-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Israel blames technical error after missile hits Gaza children collecting water
Smoke from an explosion rises in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from a southern Israel location on Sunday, July 13, 2025. (Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 32 people on Sunday, including six children at a water collection point, while the Palestinian death toll passed 58,000 after 21 months of war, local health officials said. Israel and Hamas appeared no closer to a breakthrough in indirect talks meant to pause the war and free some Israeli hostages after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Washington visit last week. A sticking point has emerged over Israeli troops ' deployment during a ceasefire. Israel says it will end the war only once Hamas surrenders, disarms and goes into exile, something it refuses to do. Hamas says it is willing to free all the remaining 50 hostages, about 20 said to be alive, in exchange for the war's end and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces. Frustrated, families of some hostages demonstrated outside Netanyahu's office Sunday evening. 'The overwhelming majority of the people in Israel have spoken loudly and clearly: We want to do a deal, even at the cost of ending this war, and we want to do it now,' said Jon Polin, father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American hostage killed in captivity. Throughout the war in Gaza, violence has surged in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Funerals were held there Sunday for two Palestinians, including Palestinian-American Sayfollah Musallet, killed by Israeli settlers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Children killed and Israel blames a technical error In central Gaza, officials at Al-Awda Hospital said it received 10 bodies after an Israeli strike on a water collection point in nearby Nuseirat. Among the dead were six children. Ramadan Nassar, a witness who lives in the area, told The Associated Press that around 20 children and 14 adults had been lined up to get water. He said Palestinians walk some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) to fetch water from the area. The Israeli military said it was targeting a militant but a technical error made its munitions fall 'dozens of meters from the target.' In Nuseirat, a small boy leaned over a body bag to say goodbye to a friend. 'There is no safe place,' resident Raafat Fanouna said as some people went over the rubble with sticks and bare hands. Separately, health officials said an Israeli strike hit a group of citizens walking in the street on Sunday afternoon in central Gaza City, killing 11 people and injuring around 30 others. Dr. Ahmed Qandil, who specializes in general surgery, was among those killed, Gaza's Health Ministry said. A ministry spokesperson, Zaher al-Wahidi, told the AP that Qandil had been on his way to Al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital. In the central town of Zawaida, an Israeli strike on a home killed nine, including two women and three children, officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said. Later, Al-Awda Hospital said a strike on a group of people in Zawaida killed two. Israel's military said it was unaware of the strike on the home, but said it hit more than 150 targets over the past 24 hours, including what it called weapons storage facilities, missile launchers and sniping posts. Israel blames Hamas for civilian casualties because the militant group operates out of populated areas. Gaza's Health Ministry says women and children make up more than half of the over 58,000 dead in the war. The ministry, under Gaza's Hamas-run government, doesn't differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The U.N. and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties. The Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251. Israel's Energy Minister Eli Cohen told right-wing Channel 14 that his ministry will not help rebuild infrastructure in Gaza. 'Gaza should remain an island of ruins to the next decades,' he said. Funeral for Palestinian-American killed in the West Bank In the West Bank, which has seen violence between Israeli troops and Palestinians and Israeli settlers' attacks on Palestinians, funerals were held for a Palestinian-American and a Palestinian friend. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Musallet, from Florida, had been beaten by Israeli settlers. Diana Halum, a cousin, said the attack occurred on his family's land. The ministry initially identified him as Seifeddine Musalat, 23. Musallet's friend, Mohammed al-Shalabi, was shot in the chest, the ministry said. Israel's military has said Palestinians hurled rocks at Israelis in the area on Friday, lightly wounding two people and setting off a larger confrontation. Palestinians and rights groups have long accused the military of ignoring settler violence. Their bodies were carried through the streets on Sunday as mourners waved Palestinian flags and chanted, 'God is great.' Musallet's family has said it wants the U.S. State Department to investigate his death and hold the settlers accountable. The State Department has said it had no comment out of respect for the family. Wafaa Shurafa And Imad Isseid, The Associated Press Isseid reported from Al-Mazraa a-Sharqiya, West Bank. Associated Press writer Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.
