All articles tagged with #israel hamas war
Ex-hostage Evyatar David, freed after 738 days in Gaza, recounts extreme starvation and being used in Hamas propaganda videos, and explains how music and family support are aiding his long rehabilitation. He emphasizes the need to keep the world’s attention on hostages, and plans public appearances in the U.S. to ensure the hostage story remains front-and-center.
White House envoy Jared Kushner and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to form two working groups on Gaza disarmament and public health, signaling progress toward a US-backed roadmap, but a fundamental split remains over what disarmament means: Israel seeks broad demilitarization while Hamas envisions a narrower approach, complicating any Israeli withdrawal tied to disarmament.
Four major Arab nations (Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE) along with Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia joined President Trump in pushing a US-backed Gaza peace plan, even as Israel rejected it and continued airstrikes. Kushner and Nickolay Mladenov were to meet Israeli PM Netanyahu to try to win support, while Hamas said it would disarm only if Israel ends attacks and withdraws from Gaza. The conflict has produced escalating violence and casualties, with at least about 1,250 Palestinians killed since last year’s deal and several Israeli soldiers dead in clashes.
An Israeli survivor of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Bar Asraf, 30, reportedly killed himself at the graveside of his girlfriend Liron Barda, who was killed during the Nova Festival massacre nearly three years earlier. Barda, 26, worked as a bartender at the festival; Asraf had stayed close to her family and memorialized her, but his death at a cemetery in Elkana, West Bank, underscores the ongoing grief among survivors. The report follows prior suicide cases among Oct. 7 survivors and notes a 2024 Times of Israel count that nearly 50 Nova Festival survivors died by suicide in six months after the massacre, with mental health resources such as the 988 Lifeline available.
Comedian Michael Rapaport says Trump’s efforts to free Israeli hostages shifted his long-running critique of the president, noting that after Oct. 7 the urgency of securing captives made him refrain from insults and show respect, though he reserves the right to criticize. He also discussed his Israel-related advocacy and teased a 2029 NYC mayoral bid with a hard-nosed, street-fighting campaign style.
Months after a US-backed ceasefire, Gaza’s people face mass displacement, rising casualties, and stalled relief efforts: over 1,000 killed and 3,400+ injured, 1.9 million displaced, shelters overwhelmed with disease risk, and rats and pests tearing at scarce supplies, as diplomats struggle to agree on long-term governance and security arrangements.
Guy Gilboa-Dalal, 24, freed after two years in Hamas captivity, describes brutal sexual assaults by his captors—including being stripped, taunted, groped, and threatened with a knife and gun—and says he was forced to profess love before his release; he is urging other survivors to come forward to empower others as one of the final hostages freed under a cease-fire.
Benjamin Kerstein argues that defending Israel amid widespread demonization is emotionally draining and often entangled in a Kafkaesque media climate. He contends Israel is not flawless, but many criticisms are inflated, distorted, or aimed at demonizing the state rather than fairly assessing policy, framing the discourse as a perpetual trial of its supporters.
Hamas’s Gaza military chief Izz ad-Din al-Haddad, who had largely operated underground under strict rules, began venturing above ground to project control during a US-brokered ceasefire. Security officials say these breaches allowed Israeli intelligence to track him and kill him in a Gaza City hideout, as Haddad’s efforts to sustain Hamas’s military and financial networks amid mounting pressure contributed to his downfall.
Israel carried out an airstrike in Gaza targeting Hamas’ senior military leader Izz al-Din al-Haddad amid a fragile US-brokered ceasefire; a residential building in Gaza City’s al-Rimal area was hit, killing at least one woman and injuring several others, including a person in critical condition. Haddad, known as the “Ghost of al-Qassam,” is Hamas’ top military figure, but CNN has not independently confirmed his death and Hamas had not commented at publication. The strike follows ongoing Israeli actions against Hamas despite the ceasefire, with casualty totals rising in Gaza.
An Israeli Civil Commission report describes the Oct 7, 2023 attacks as the ‘weaponization of sexual violence,’ detailing systematic rape, assault and torture by Hamas and allied groups against civilians and hostages to maximize suffering. Based on 430 interviews, 10,000+ photos, and other records, the 300-page finding says these acts constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocidal acts, and it aims to preserve history and aid prosecutions; about 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages were taken.
Surveillance footage shows Cornell University president Michael Kotlikoff reversing his SUV as students surrounded his car after an Israel-Palestine debate; a group claims two students were injured, while Kotlikoff says he was accosted and used the vehicle’s safety features to disengage, with one student shown being hit in the clip. The incident underscores ongoing campus speech tensions amid broader debates about funding and governance at the Ivy League school.
Video shows protesters from the group Within Our Lifetime shouting anti-Israel slurs and yelling 'Bomb Israel' at diners outside Motek, a kosher restaurant in Manhattan's Flatiron District, as police kept protesters and diners apart during a pro-Palestine march.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin details the harrowing 11-month captivity of her son Hersh Goldberg-Polin after he was abducted at the Nova festival during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, his death in tunnels beneath Gaza, and how her grief became the driving force behind her memoir, When We See You Again, a testament to hope amid loss.
Residents in Gaza allege Hamas members target desperate widows and young mothers, offering food and relief in exchange for sex; five women claim coercive encounters, with some reporting coverups and calls for scrutiny of aid groups amid the Gaza humanitarian crisis.