Latest news with #IditOhel
Wall Street Journal
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Inside the Failed Push by Hostage Families to Meet With Trump and Qatar's Emir
DOHA, Qatar—Tears edged down Idit Ohel's face as she showed U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and a senior Qatari official the video of her son, Alon, being kidnapped by Hamas into Gaza. An aide to the Qatari official, wearing a traditional Arab thawb, slid a box of tissues toward her.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Counting the seconds': Mother of hostage Alon Ohel on fragile ceasefire deal
Hostage Alon Ohel's mother, Idit Ohel, joins NewsNation to discuss the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which is now on the brink of collapse. Alon Ohel, a 24-year-old pianist, was kidnapped from a roadside bomb shelter near the Nova Festival on Oct. 7, 2023. For nearly 500 days, his family had no confirmation of his fate — until earlier this month, when recently released hostages reported that Alon was alive. However, they described the conditions he is enduring as 'medieval,' saying he is chained, malnourished and suffering from untreated injuries. Now, his family is racing against time, fighting to secure his release before it's too late. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mother of Israeli hostage begs Trump, Netanyahu to bring son home before ceasefire collapses: 'No more time'
Idit Ohel, the mother of Israeli hostage Alon Ohel, urgently pleaded for President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure the release of the remaining Oct. 7 captives held by Hamas amid fears the current ceasefire deal is disintegrating. "They have no more time. And please don't go back to war. Please. Because if that happens, if we go back to war, the hostages could die. The hostages that are alive could die," she told Fox News Digital. "That's what happened last time. Last time we saw that after the hostages came out and war started, so many hostages died and were murdered by Hamas. So we cannot let this happen. Please do everything in your power and do something for my son. He's in the tunnels. He's crying for help." Idit Ohel said she received confirmation that her son is still alive from released hostages Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, two of the three gaunt, frail-looking Israelis forced to speak Saturday during a Hamas hand-over ceremony in Gaza. The mother said the released hostages, who were held with her son for part of their nearly 500 days in captivity, told her that Alon Ohel is unable to see out of an eye after being struck by shrapnel when Hamas was closing in on Oct. 7, 2023. Alon Ohel, a civilian, was attending the Nova music festival when terrorists attacked, and he took cover in a bomb shelter. Hamas pounded the shelter with grenades and gunfire, and he "was taken, wounded, with blood all over him," Idit Ohel said. Israel Slams Palestinian 'Deception Scheme' Over Claim It Halted Terror Rewards Program Alon Ohel's ancestors survived the Holocaust, including his great-grandfather who weighed just 30 kilos [about 66 pounds] when he was released from the Auschwitz concentration camp, Idit Ohel said. "So if he was alive today, he would probably die instantly just knowing that his great-grandson in the year of 2025 is starving," she said. "Alon has these genes. So he's fighting. He's fighting for his life every day." Read On The Fox News App Under the deal, another three hostages were due to be released by next Saturday, but Hamas said Monday that the group would not let them go, accusing Israel of violating terms of the ceasefire agreement. Concerns that fighting will resume are rising. Trump has since said that Hamas must release all remaining 76 hostages by noon Saturday, or he would demand the ceasefire deal be canceled and "let all hell break out." Netanyahu backed the demand. Israeli media is reporting that Trump's envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is being dispatched to Israel and Qatar this week to prevent the ceasefire deal from unraveling. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected in Israel on Saturday. To Trump and Netayanhu directly, Idit Ohel said, "Do something and bring them home. Please. Please." "Give him a chance. It's unbearable. Something has to change. You have to do everything in your power to bring him home to me, to his family," she said. "There's still hostages alive. There's still hostages alive. Please. Please, do something." Idit Ohel said she learned her son is being held in tunnels without medical attention and little food and has been "tortured, chained and starved." "It's not humane. There's so much food getting into Gaza, and he's not getting any of it," she said. Hamas Says It's Delaying Next Hostage Release, Claiming Ceasefire Violations "Alon, right now as we speak, is still being not fed, sleeping on the floor, being chained, constrained. So he cannot move for 494 days," Idit Ohel said. "My son is important. My son is only an innocent civilian. He went to the Nova festival to have fun. He's a pianist. He loves music. He did nothing wrong to nobody. We need to get him out now. He cannot continue. This is humanitarian." Days before Trump took office, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement. Former President Joe Biden said at the time that the first phase involved a "surge of humanitarian assistance into Gaza" – something Idit Ohel stressed her son is not getting. She said the International Committee of the Red Cross "have never seen Alon and have never seen any of the hostages – [he] didn't get any treatment." "Where is he? Why is he not coming?" Idit Ohel added. "I do not understand it. I will never understand it. This is wrong. This is not moral." Ohel rallied thousands in Tel Aviv over the weekend on her son's 24th birthday – the second birthday he has spent in captivity since the Oct. 7 attacks. "I wanted to say happy birthday to my son. I couldn't even talk [to him] and see and hear his voice," she said. "When I heard about his condition, I fainted … I haven't been sleeping for days … I cannot control what Hamas is doing to my son." "Every mother in this world. Think just for a second. If there's one night that your son or daughter doesn't eat, you can't even live with yourself," Ohel added. "My son has not been getting food for 494 days." The mother also delivered a message directly to her son. "If you're listening to me, you know I love you and your father loves you. And we're doing everything in our power to make sure that you're home alive. You're coming home. And there's so many people all over the world and in Israel that are with you and are praying for you," Ohel said, asking fellow musicians to play songs in her son's honor in the coming days. "And you are not alone, Alon. You are not alone."Original article source: Mother of Israeli hostage begs Trump, Netanyahu to bring son home before ceasefire collapses: 'No more time'
Fox News
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Mother of Israeli hostage begs Trump, Netanyahu to bring son home before ceasefire collapses: 'No more time'
Idit Ohel, the mother of Israeli hostage Alon Ohel, urgently pleaded for President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure the release of the remaining Oct. 7 captives held by Hamas amid fears the current ceasefire deal is disintegrating. "They have no more time. And please don't go back to war. Please. Because if that happens, if we go back to war, the hostages could die. The hostages that are alive could die," she told Fox News Digital. "That's what happened last time. Last time we saw that after the hostages came out and war started, so many hostages died and were murdered by Hamas. So we cannot let this happen. Please do everything in your power and do something for my son. He's in the tunnels. He's crying for help." Idit Ohel said she received confirmation that her son is still alive from released hostages Eli Sharabi and Or Levy, two of the three gaunt, frail-looking Israelis forced to speak Saturday during a Hamas hand-over ceremony in Gaza. The mother said the released hostages, who were held with her son for part of their nearly 500 days in captivity, told her that Alon Ohel is unable to see out of an eye after being struck by shrapnel when Hamas was closing in on Oct. 7, 2023. Alon Ohel, a civilian, was attending the Nova music festival when terrorists attacked, and he took cover in a bomb shelter. Hamas pounded the shelter with grenades and gunfire, and he "was taken, wounded, with blood all over him," Idit Ohel said. Alon Ohel's ancestors survived the Holocaust, including his great-grandfather who weighed just 30 kilos [about 66 pounds] when he was released from the Auschwitz concentration camp, Idit Ohel said. "So if he was alive today, he would probably die instantly just knowing that his great-grandson in the year of 2025 is starving," she said. "Alon has these genes. So he's fighting. He's fighting for his life every day." Under the deal, another three hostages were due to be released by next Saturday, but Hamas said Monday that the group would not let them go, accusing Israel of violating terms of the ceasefire agreement. Concerns that fighting will resume are rising. Trump has since said that Hamas must release all remaining 76 hostages by noon Saturday, or he would demand the ceasefire deal be canceled and "let all hell break out." Netanyahu backed the demand. Israeli media is reporting that Trump's envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is being dispatched to Israel and Qatar this week to prevent the ceasefire deal from unraveling. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected in Israel on Saturday. To Trump and Netayanhu directly, Idit Ohel said, "Do something and bring them home. Please. Please." "Give him a chance. It's unbearable. Something has to change. You have to do everything in your power to bring him home to me, to his family," she said. "There's still hostages alive. There's still hostages alive. Please. Please, do something." Idit Ohel said she learned her son is being held in tunnels without medical attention and little food and has been "tortured, chained and starved." "It's not humane. There's so much food getting into Gaza, and he's not getting any of it," she said. "Alon, right now as we speak, is still being not fed, sleeping on the floor, being chained, constrained. So he cannot move for 494 days," Idit Ohel said. "My son is important. My son is only an innocent civilian. He went to the Nova festival to have fun. He's a pianist. He loves music. He did nothing wrong to nobody. We need to get him out now. He cannot continue. This is humanitarian." Days before Trump took office, Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire agreement. Former President Joe Biden said at the time that the first phase involved a "surge of humanitarian assistance into Gaza" – something Idit Ohel stressed her son is not getting. She said the International Committee of the Red Cross "have never seen Alon and have never seen any of the hostages – [he] didn't get any treatment." "Where is he? Why is he not coming?" Idit Ohel added. "I do not understand it. I will never understand it. This is wrong. This is not moral." Ohel rallied thousands in Tel Aviv over the weekend on her son's 24th birthday – the second birthday he has spent in captivity since the Oct. 7 attacks. "I wanted to say happy birthday to my son. I couldn't even talk [to him] and see and hear his voice," she said. "When I heard about his condition, I fainted … I haven't been sleeping for days … I cannot control what Hamas is doing to my son." "Every mother in this world. Think just for a second. If there's one night that your son or daughter doesn't eat, you can't even live with yourself," Ohel added. "My son has not been getting food for 494 days." The mother also delivered a message directly to her son. "If you're listening to me, you know I love you and your father loves you. And we're doing everything in our power to make sure that you're home alive. You're coming home. And there's so many people all over the world and in Israel that are with you and are praying for you," Ohel said, asking fellow musicians to play songs in her son's honor in the coming days. "And you are not alone, Alon. You are not alone."
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Relatives of Israeli hostages are terrified as the Gaza ceasefire teeters
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — After 16 months of excruciating uncertainty, Idit Ohel finally received word this week that her 24-year-old son, a hostage in Gaza, is still alive. She said she fainted upon hearing the brutal details of his captivity from freed hostages who had been held with him by Hamas since Oct. 7, 2023. Bound by chains in an underground tunnel, Alon Ohel has subsisted on a piece of bread or less each day. 'He hasn't seen sunlight in 493 days,' she told reporters on Monday. As the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas seems increasingly at risk of falling apart — Hamas says it will not free three hostages on Saturday as planned, and Israel says it's ready to resume the war if it doesn't — families of the hostages are struggling to maintain hope. They are pleading with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to give up on the ceasefire framework, and to speed up the timeline of releases if possible. Their worries about the ceasefire collapsing have been exacerbated by President Donald Trump's demand that all of the hostages be freed by Saturday — and his insistence that Gaza be emptied of all Palestinians and redeveloped as a tourist enclave controlled by the United States. The emaciated state of three hostages released last Saturday has infuriated Israelis and terrified families of the remaining hostages, especially as more details come out about the conditions of their captivity. The situation is especially difficult for relatives of hostages who are not on the list of 33 hostages expected to be released in the ceasefire's first, six-week phase, which began on Jan. 19. The agreement requires Israel to free 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, whose families are also worried about how their enemy treats them. Two hostages released on Saturday, Or Levy and Eli Sharabi, were held together with Alon Ohel, and a fourth hostage, Eliya Cohen. The four were held underground since their kidnapping, Idit Ohel said. Cohen is expected to be released in the ceasefire's first stage; Ohel would be freed in the second stage, if Israel and Hamas reach that point. Levy, Ohel, and Cohen were kidnapped from a bomb shelter near a music festival in southern Israel, along with Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli who was killed in captivity in August. 'It breaks my heart to know he was chained and to know what happened to him in the tunnels from people in the tunnels,' Cohen's fiancée, Ziv Abud, 27, told reporters on Tuesday. The returned hostages said that Cohen had lost more than 20 kilograms (44 pounds) and had a bullet in his leg that did not receive medical attention. While they were with him, Cohen was unaware that Abud had survived the Hamas attack on the bomb shelter where they were hiding. During the Oct. 7 attack, militants tossed grenades and sprayed bullets inside the concrete bomb shelter near the music festival, where almost 30 people had crammed inside. At least 16 people inside the shelter were killed. Abud said she was protected by the crush of bodies above her. Going in and out of consciousness, she spent hours laying beneath the bodies of her nephew and his girlfriend. For families of hostages who are not scheduled for release in the first phase of the ceasefire, its uncertainty is even more difficult to bear. Israel and Hamas were set last week to begin talks on a second phase of the ceasefire that would include an end to the war and the release of the remaining hostages. But those efforts have been frozen while the two sides trade accusations about whether the other is living up to the terms of the first phase. Tamir Nimrodi, 20, an Israeli soldier kidnapped from his post at a main crossing between Israel and Gaza, is not on the list to be freed in the first stage. His mother, Herut, said Hamas' plan to delay the next hostage release came as a shock. 'We try to analyze it, think, what are the possibilities? Is this psychological terrorism they are pulling on us?' she said. It's been difficult watching the hostage releases over the past few weeks, Nimrodi said, especially the emotional videos of hostages reuniting with their families. On the one hand, each reunion is a step closer to bringing back her son, whom she described as a creative person who loves riding horses and drinking sweet cocktails made with pineapple juice. But Nimrodi does not know if her son, who also holds German citizenship, is alive. The other two soldiers he was kidnapped with were killed, and she has not received any sign of life from him. 'I know there is a chance I won't get to the point where I can hold my son,' she said. According to Israeli media, returning hostages have provided proof of life for at least seven Israeli hostages, including Cohen and Ohel. Nimrodi doesn't know what is worse — to believe her son is dead, or to receive information that he is alive, but held in conditions like Alon Ohel. 'I'm scared if Tamir is still alive, I have no idea what he's going through, I'm scared to even imagine,' she said. Idit Ohel received the information about her son's condition less than an hour before she went on Israel's Channel 12 news program earlier this week. She sat at the news desk sobbing on live TV, pleading with the government to continue to the second stage of the ceasefire and bring all of the hostages home as soon as possible. Alon, who also has German and Serbian citizenship, is a talented pianist. The family has placed pianos across Israel in his honor, many of which are yellow, the color associated with the struggle for the hostages. The family marked Alon's second birthday in captivity on Monday evening in Tel Aviv, where his mother addressed the Israeli government. 'After all the sights you saw, after all the testimonies you heard from the survivors of captivity, how do you allow this situation to continue?' she said. Alon did remember his younger sister, Inbar, had a birthday on Saturday and delivered her a message through the hostages who were released that day. 'She got her birthday wish, to hear from her brother, which is incredible,' Idit said, through tears. Melanie Lidman, The Associated Press
