Latest news with #ShayLevinson
The Guardian
36 minutes ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Israel recovers bodies of three hostages held in Gaza
Israel announced on Sunday it had recovered the bodies of two civilians and one soldier held hostage in Gaza, amid its ongoing wars with Hamas and Iran. The Israeli military said it recovered the remains of hostages Ofra Keidar, Yonatan Samerano and staff sergeant Shay Levinson in an operation in Gaza on Saturday, more than 20 months after they were abducted by Hamas militants. 'In a special operation … the bodies of the hostages Ofra Keidar, Yonatan Samerano and staff sergeant Shay Levinson were recovered from the Gaza Strip yesterday,' the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. The hostage families forum said in a statement the return of the bodies 'provides some comfort to the families who have waited in agony, uncertainty, and doubt for 625 days'. The group further urged the Israeli government to return the remaining 50 hostages from Gaza, which it said was the 'key to achieving complete victory'. The group described Samerano as 'a talented DJ who just wanted to make music, have fun, and travel'. Keidar, a 71-year-old, lived in the Be'eri kibbutz, where over a 100 people were killed. The return of the hostages came as some of the families of those abducted feared that Israel's war with Iran, which started on 13 June, would distract from efforts to return the remaining captives. Hamas-led miltiants took 251 people hostage during its 7 October 2023 attack in Israel, as well as killing 1,200 people. Of the remaining hostages, Israel believes about 30 to be dead. On Sunday, Israel's president, Isaac Herzog, called for the 'urgent release' of the remaining hostages after the US carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. 'This brave step serves the security and safety of the entire free world. I hope it will lead to a better future for the Middle East – and help advance the urgent release of our hostages held in captivity in Gaza,' Herzog wrote on X. Some families of the hostages protested against the Israeli government's resumption of the war in Gaza in March and have said a ceasefire is the only way to safely recover those remaining. Fighting resumed after Israel declined to move to a second phase of an agreed-upon ceasefire that could have led to a permanent end to the war. Israel continues its operations in Gaza, where more than 55,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed over the last 20 months.
Telegraph
43 minutes ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Israel recovers bodies of three hostages from Gaza
Israel has recovered the bodies of three hostages who were killed on Oct 7 from Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces has announced. The remains of Ofra Keidar, Jonathan Samerano and Shay Levinson were brought back to Israel following a military operation overnight on Saturday. The hostages families' group welcomed their return and renewed calls for the government to strike a deal with Hamas for the 50 remaining hostages, of whom 20 are thought to be alive. Ms Keidar, 71, was murdered by terrorists while taking an early morning walk near her home in the kibbutz of Be'eri on Oct 7. Her body was taken into Gaza as part of what is believed to have been a deliberate strategy by Hamas to maximise leverage over Israel in the ensuing conflict. Ms Keidar's husband, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, was killed by Hamas on the sofa in his home. Their son, Elad Keidar, said: 'There is comfort – we will finally have a proper grave to visit. This is good news.' 'You have returned to us' Mr Samerano, 21, was at the Nova music festival when the terror attack began and fled towards Be'eri with two friends, but were killed. His death was confirmed in December 2023 following footage from a kibbutz security camera showing terrorists loading him into a jeep. His body was recovered on what would have been his 23rd birthday. Kobi Samerano, his father, wrote on social media: 'Yonati [Jonathan], we were blessed to live by your side for 21 and a half years of light,' he said. 'You have returned to us, beloved son, wrapped in the light of heroism, of faith, of a nation united.' The IDF claim that one of his captors was an employee of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Mr Levinson was a 19-year-old tank commander based on the Gaza border. He was killed while fighting the invading terrorists near the Nova festival. The soldier was a dual German-Israeli citizen. On Sunday, Steffen Seibert, Germany's ambassador, expressed his condolences to the family. Writing on X, he said: 'I just spoke to his father; our hearts are with his family and all others waiting for their loved-ones' return. There must be a deal to get them out and end this war.' The IDF continues to suffer casualties as it battles Hamas in Gaza. NGOs believe large numbers of people are now facing starvation, as Israel's controversial new aid distribution system struggles to make up for the previously allowed hundreds of aid trucks a day, which the government said were often seized by Hamas. With the eyes of the world diverted by the new conflict with Iran, mass killings of civilians near the aid sites have continued, with witnesses accusing Israeli troops of opening fire. The IDF said it investigates reports of such killings, while Israeli sources also point to Hamas's campaign of intimidation against civilians.
Asharq Al-Awsat
an hour ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israel Says Remains of 3 Hostages Recovered from Gaza
The Israeli military said Sunday that it has recovered the remains of three hostages held in the Gaza Strip. It identified them as Yonatan Samerano, 21; Ofra Keidar, 70; and Shay Levinson, 19. All three were killed during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel that ignited the ongoing war. The militant group is still holding 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive. Kobi Samerano said in a Facebook post that his son's remains were returned on what would have been Yonatan's 23rd birthday. 'The campaign to return the hostages continues consistently and is happening alongside the campaign against Iran,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Israel recovers bodies of three Gaza captives as it kills 33 Palestinians
Israeli forces say they have recovered the bodies of three captives held in the Gaza Strip since Hamas's 2023 attack, the military said, as its bombardment and attacks in the besieged enclave have killed more than 30 Palestinians, according to hospital officials. The military on Sunday said the bodies of Ofra Keidar, Yonatan Samerano, and soldier Shay Levinson were recovered from Gaza 'in a special operation'. Samerano's father had announced earlier on Sunday that his 21-year-old son's body, which was taken into Gaza after he was murdered on October 7, 2023, had been recovered by the Israeli army. Keidar, a 71-year-old mother of three, was also killed on the day, while 19-year-old tank commander Levinson 'engaged and fought terrorists on the morning of October 7 and fell in combat', a statement from the military said. More than 1,100 people were killed and about 250 taken captive during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli authorities. At least 50 of those captives remain in Gaza, with 20 reportedly still alive, Israeli media say. Hamas has repeatedly said it is ready to release all Israeli captives in exchange for a permanent end to the war on Gaza, the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave, and the release of all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. But Netanyahu has rejected the terms and continued his war on the Strip, which has killed about 56,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children – a brutal offensive that the United Nations, most governments, and rights groups call a genocide. More recently, starving Palestinians desperate for food and other essential items are being shot, with more than 400 people killed and nearly 2,000 wounded since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a shadowy group backed by the United States and Israel, began distributing aid last month. Israeli forces killed at least 33 Palestinians since dawn on Sunday, six of them while seeking aid, hospital sources in Gaza told Al Jazeera. Gaza's Ministry of Health said at least 51 Palestinians were killed in the last 24 hours. Since March 18, when Israel broke a fragile two-month ceasefire and launched a massive assault on Gaza, at least 5,647 Palestinians have been killed and 19,201 wounded, according to the ministry. An Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza on Sunday said at least six people were killed overnight during an Israel-imposed internet blackout that lasted five hours and was accompanied by heavy Israeli artillery firing targeting areas in eastern and central Gaza. Three of them were killed after a rocket hit a tent housing displaced Palestinians in al-Mawasi to the west of Khan Younis city. A man and his wife were killed in another strike targeting an apartment to the north of Nuseirat. Medical services in Gaza say ambulances have completely stopped operating in Gaza City due to Israel's ban on fuel entering the enclave. The Israeli blockade of food and medicines has pushed its entire population of more than two million to the brink of starvation. On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV called on the world not to forget the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as the war in the Middle East broadened with overnight US strikes on Iran. 'In this context that includes Israel and Palestine, there is a risk that the daily suffering of peoples is forgotten, in particular in Gaza and other territories, where there is an ever greater urgency for adequate humanitarian aid,' the pope said.
LBCI
4 hours ago
- Politics
- LBCI
Israeli army says bodies of three hostages recovered in Gaza
The Israeli military said Sunday that it had recovered the bodies of three hostages in Gaza more than 20 months after they were abducted by Hamas militants. "In a special operation... the bodies of the hostages Ofra Keidar, Yonatan Samerano, and Staff Sergeant Shay Levinson were recovered from the Gaza Strip yesterday," the military said in a statement. AFP
