الكاتب: kafej

Israel says 11 more hostages have been released from the Gaza Strip by Hamas.

Late on Monday they were said to be having medical checks before being reunited with their families.

Kibbutz Nir Oz said in a statement that all of them were from its community, but that 49 were still being held.

It’s the fourth release of hostages under a ceasefire deal that began on Friday and Israel is set to free 33 Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

The truce was set to end early on Tuesday, but mediator Qatar said it would now be extended for two days.

Some 240 people were kidnapped during the deadly Hamas attack – the names of those released as of Monday night are:

Eitan Yahalomi, 12

Eitan is described as “a very sensitive boy” who has “a big heart and immense empathy”. He was kidnapped with his father Ohad.

Karina Engel-Bart, 52, and daughters Mika Engel, 18, and Yuval Engel, 11

Ms Engel-Bart has just recovered from breast cancer after two years of treatment and surgeries and is still taking medication for it.

She was kidnapped with her husband and their two daughters from Kibbutz Nir Oz. Her husband, Ronen, remains a Hamas captive.

Sahar Kalderon, 16, and Erez Kalderon, 12

Sahar is described as loving art, drawing, sculpting clay, and listening to Korean pop and Billie Eilish. She also plays the bass.

Erez plays the trumpet, likes video games and has “very cynical” sense of humour “like a stand-up comedian”.

Their grandmother, Carmela Dan, was murdered in the Hamas attack and their dad, Ofer, was still being held hostage when they were released.

Or Yaakov, 16, and Yagil Yaakov, 12

Or is described as introverted, polite and a “delicate and sensitive soul” – who’s also addicted to Fortnite and loves going to the gym.

His brother Yagil is described as a “12-year-old who acts like he’s 22” who loves being the centre of attention and is the “class clown”.

The boys’ father, Yair, is also still being held by Hamas.

Sharon Aloni Cunio, 34, and twins Ema Cunio and Yuly Cunio, both three

Ms Cunio is personal adviser for the head of Ashkol regional council. She once did PR for a film and later ended up marrying its lead actor, David.

He wasn’t released alongside her. Her brother-in-law, Ariel, is also still a hostage.

The twins are described as “full of love” and “true kibbutz girls” who prefer trucks and mechanical tools over dolls.

Hagar Brodetz, 40, with her children, Ofry, 10, Yuval, eight, and Oriya, who is four

The family was taken hostage together on 7 October.

Chen Goldstein-Almog, with her three children, Agam, who is 17, Gal, 11, and eight-year-old Tal

Ms Goldstein-Almog, 49, is a social worker and was taken by Hamas alongside her children.

Dafna Elyakim, 15, and Ela Elyakim, 8

Abigail Edan, four

Four-year-old Abigail is a dual Israeli-American national, whose parents were reportedly killed in the 7 October attacks.

US President Joe Biden said on the day she was released that her father was “gunned down while using his body to shield little Abigail”, who then ran to a neighbour’s house where she was taken hostage alongside another family.

“What she endured is unthinkable,” Mr Biden told a news conference.

Ron Krivoi, 25

Mr Krivoi is a Russian-Israeli, whom Hamas said it had freed in appreciation of Moscow’s support during the conflict.

Alma Avraham, 84

Ms Avraham was among those freed on 26 November, the third day of the temporary truce deal between Israel and Hamas.

Aviva Adrienne Siegel, 62

Ms Siegel was freed after more than seven weeks in captivity.

Emily Hand, nine

Irish-Israeli schoolgirl Emily was taken from Be’eri on 7 October.

She was sleeping at her best friend’s house when the attack took place.

Her mother, Liat, died of cancer when Emily was two years old. Her father, Thomas, made multiple pleas for her safe return.

Thomas was initially told that Emily’s body had been found, but was later told that she was alive and among the hostages.

Hila Rotem Shoshani, 13

Hila managed to escape her home in Be’eri, but was found hiding in nearby bushes and kidnapped by Hamas militants.

Her mother, Raaya, was also kidnapped.

Hila had recently returned from a holiday in Korea and Thailand, where she had been visiting for her uncle’s wedding.

Maya Regev, 21

Maya was kidnapped, along with her brother Itay and their friend Omer She-Tov, while attending the Re’im festival.

She had gone to the festival hours after landing from Mexico, where she had been on holiday with her family.

Maya is due to go travelling across South America next month.

Noam Or, 17, and his 13-year-old sister, Alma

Noam was kidnapped from kibbutz Be’eri, along with his sister, Alma.

Their mother, Yonat, was murdered during the same attack.

Their eldest brother, Yahli, survived the attack as he was away in northern Israel on national service.

Shiri Weiss, 53, and her 18-year-old daughter, Noga

Described as “very family-oriented”, Shiri Weiss, an accountant for an agricultural association, was kidnapped from Be’eri, alongside her husband, Ilan, and her daughter, Noga.

Friends say Ms Weiss likes being in charge of planning family trips, while Noga has been described as a sports fan – particularly volleyball.

Noga hid under the bed during the attack, but was forced to flee the home after it was set on fire.

She escaped through a window, but was found hiding in bushes and was kidnapped.

Sharon Avigdori, 52, and her 12-year-old daughter, Noam

A drama therapist who works with people on the autism spectrum, Sharon Avigdori was taken with her daughter Noam while visiting her brother in kibbutz Be’eri.

Noam, a member of the Scouts movement, was about to celebrate her Bat Mitzvah when she was taken.

A further seven members of Ms Avigdori’s family were kidnapped and three were murdered on 7 October.

Shoshan Haran, 67, her daughter, Adi Shoham, and her grandchildren, Nave, eight, and Yahel, three

Sharon Haran is the founder of a non-profit organisation, who previously worked on agricultural projects in Africa.

She was taken along with eight members of her family, while her husband, sister, and brother-in-law, were murdered.

Her daughter, Adi Shoham, from Ma’aleh Tzvia, was kidnapped from Be’eri along with her husband and their two children, Nave and Yahel, and five other members of the family.

They were in Be’eri for a holiday visit.

Ms Shoham works as a clinical psychologist, while Nave is a huge fan of the Argentinian football star Lionel Messi, and his sister, Yahel, is a fan of singing.

The names of the hostages released on Friday are:

Adina Moshe, 72

She was kidnapped from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, after Hamas militants killed her husband Sa’id Moshe.

She has four children – Maya, Yael, Sasson, and Amos – and a number of grandchildren.

Her hobbies include cooking, gardening and reading.

Margalit Moses, 77

A cancer survivor, she has diabetes and fibromyalgia, and takes additional medications for blood pressure and thyroid.

She is said to be a sworn nature lover, especially of birds, and loves hiking despite her poor health.

Last summer she went on sailing trip in northern Norway and had plans to visit Mozambique this winter. Margalit’s other hobbies include knitting.

Daniel Aloni, 45, and her six-year-old daughter Emilia

The pair were kidnapped in Nir Oz while visiting Daniel’s sister Sharon Aloni-Cunio – who was also kidnapped along with her three-year-old twins Emma and Yuli, and their father David Cunio.

On 7 October at 11am Daniel sent a “last message” to her family which said there were terrorists in the house and she was afraid they would not survive.

Ruthy Munder, 78, Keren Munder, 54 and nine-year-old Ohad Munder

Ohad was kidnapped along with his mother, Keren, while they were visiting his grandmother Ruthy, who was also seized. He reportedly turned nine while in captivity. His mother is a teacher and children’s volleyball coach.

Ruthy Munder’s hobbies are said to include knitting, painting and sewing. Her husband, Ohad’s grandfather, was also kidnapped and is still being held by Hamas, it is thought.

Doron Katz Asher, 34, and her daughters Aviv, two, and Raz, four

The trio were kidnapped during a visit to relatives, including the girls’ grandmother, in Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Ms Katz Asher works as an accountant.

Hanna Peri, 79

The mother-of-three immigrated to Israel from South Africa in the 1960s. She works in a grocery store.

Ms Peri is said to have diabetes and suffers from severe vision loss in one eye. Her hobbies including gardening, Tai Chi and looking after her pet cat.

Footage, apparently of her, being taken away on a golf buggy went viral following Hamas’s attack.

Yaffa Adar, 85

Ms Adar has three children, eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

One of her grandchildren, Tamir Adar, 38, was kidnapped alongside her and is still thought to be held by Hamas.

Hana Katzir, 76

Ms Katzir was the 13th hostage to be released on Friday. Hamas forces reportedly claimed earlier this week that she had died in captivity.

British-Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu Sittah has a methodical way of describing a wound and a dispassionate manner when describing his own interventions.  

Take the way he describes the emergency room after a rocket landed on the premises of northern Gaza’s al Ahli hospital on 17 October.

“On my right, I saw a man in his mid-fifties with an amputation at the level of the mid-thigh.

“Like a guillotine amputation, there was blood spurting through the exposed arteries in his stump.

“I took his belt and tied it as a tourniquet… I moved on to another patient who had received a single (piece of) shrapnel to his neck, blood was spurting out of the neck…”

Israel-Gaza latest: Two-day truce extension agreed, say Hamas and Qatar

A highly experienced plastic and reconstructive surgeon, he spent an arduous spell of 43 days in operating theatres in Gaza City.

It is an experience that he variously describes as “dystopian” and “apocalyptic”.

At a press conference in London, the UK-based medic talked about how the nature of the injuries he treated changed over the passage of time.

“Most of the injuries initially were blast injuries, and these were severe soft tissue trauma, severe facial traumas, multiple fractures.

“And then as time went, we saw the introduction of incendiary bombs where the patients would have and over 40% of their total body surface area burned,” he said.

After the Israelis began their ground invasion in Gaza, Dr Abu Sittah says the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) fired white phosphorous bombs in populated areas.

Phosphorous pellets embedded in the skin are extremely difficult to treat.

“I treated white phosphorous burns in the Gaza Strip during the 2009 war. It was very familiar with the characteristic injuries and burns that they make.

“Phosphorus burns right through to the inner core of the body and only stops when it is when it has no exposure to oxygen… the patients would be basically puckered with burns that tore right into the ribs, the bones.”

The Israeli military has denied using white phosphorous bombs in civilian areas in Gaza – and in southern Lebanon.

Israel has not signed an international protocol which bans their use.

Dr Abu Sittah said he managed to enter Gaza via its border with Egypt shortly after Hamas had begun its brutal assault on 7 October.

He told the press conference that he expected Israel to deliver a “vicious response”.

The surgeon said he worked at three hospitals in northern Gaza and was in the operating theatre at the Church of England’s al Ahli hospital when a missile landed in the complex in mid-October.

Read more from Sky News:
Temporary ceasefire extended, say Qatar and Hamas
Released Palestinian prisoners complain of mistreatment

“The false ceiling in the operating room fell on top of us. Luckily, I wasn’t injured, and I walked out of the operating room,” he said.

“The forecourt which had been hit was full of bodies and parts of bodies… I remember walking past the amputated forearm of a child.”

He dismissed the widely-held view – by Western governments and groups like Human Rights Watch – that the weapon in question was likely a malfunctioning missile fired from inside Gaza.

“There was no smell of fuel. When I went back to al Ahli to work there, there was nothing on the ground. You’d think that a missile that was destined for Tel Aviv would be full of fuel.”

Dr Abu Sittah also rejected Israel’s assertions that al Shifa hospital was used as a key command and control centre by Hamas militants.

“At no stage did I see any – at no stage did I see even armed policemen – at Shifa Hospital.

“Even the security men at Shifa were there to just police the number of relatives trying to get all into the emergency departments. They had truncheons.”

Israeli spokespeople and politicians have repeatedly insisted that they are not targeting civilians in Gaza – the fight they say, is against Hamas, not ordinary residents.

In response, the softly-spoken doctor asked the public to look at the stats.

“[There are] 36,000 wounded, over 14,000 dead, around 5,000 more buried under the rubble, statistically.

“Statistically, it appears that the numbers tell a different story. (Look at) their homes that, when you take out 40%, 50% of Gaza’s homes, you can’t possibly have military targets in all of these homes.

“It would be bizarre if all of these homes – and all of these families – and all of these dead kids – were sitting in military installations.”

The Israel-Hamas war has exposed deep division within the European Union on policy towards Israel and Palestine.

The only unity found has been in condemning Hamas and its attacks on October 7 that killed around 1,200 Israelis.

But there’s been no such unity against Israel’s killing of thousands of Palestinians, most of whom were women and children.

At one end, Germany fully supports Israel – at the other, Belgium wants sanctions.

So, can EU policy on Gaza even be defined, when it’s so divided?

Is it effectively pro-Israel? And is this war changing positions?

Presenter: Nastasya Tay

Guests:

Grace O’Sullivan – Member of the European Parliament, representing the Green Party in Ireland

Martin Konecny – Founder and Director of the European Middle East Project, an independent organisation specialising in European and international policies on the Israel-Palestine conflict

Suzanne Lynch – Chief Brussels correspondent for Politico and host of the podcast EU Confidential

President says most of the leaders arrested after attack on military barracks and prisons in the West African nation.

At least 20 people have been killed, including 13 soldiers, and several wounded in a series of attacks over the weekend that targeted military barracks and prisons in Sierra Leone, according to the army.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, an army spokesperson said attacks across the capital, Freetown, on Sunday were carried out by “renegade soldiers” but had been repelled.

“We have launched a manhunt for all those who were involved in the violent attack, amongst them current and retired serving soldiers,” Colonel Issa Bangura said.

Bangura said the 20 dead included 13 soldiers, three assailants, a police officer, a civilian and someone working in private security. Eight people were wounded and three arrested, he said.

The Reuters news agency, citing a situation report, said about 1,890 people held at the Pademba Road central prison escaped the facility after it was attacked. Police urged those who had escaped to return to the prison.

Reuters said a correspondent saw cell doors forced open or removed entirely during a visit to the facility on Monday, and ​​Colonel Shek Sulaiman Massaquoi, the acting director general of the Sierra Leone Correctional Service, said attackers had rammed through the front gate of the prison in a vehicle after a failed effort to break through with a rocket launcher.

In remarks on Sunday, President Julius Maada Bio said most of the leaders behind the attacks had been arrested and efforts were under way to capture the rest.

Seeking to reassure residents, Information Minister Chernor Bah told the public in a statement on Sunday: “The government and its state security forces are in control.”

Few details have emerged regarding the identity and motives of the attackers. During the assault, some told local media they were fighting to “clean up the system”.

“Certain members of the military are not loyal towards the government or the president despite taking the oath,” Bangura said.

“We want to restore law and order as quickly as possible.”

Washington, DC – State lawmakers and Palestinian rights supporters, joined by actor and progressive advocate Cynthia Nixon, have launched a five-day hunger strike outside the White House to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.

At a news conference on Monday, the activists decried United States President Joe Biden’s role in supporting the Israeli offensive in Gaza and called for an immediate end to the fighting.

The hunger strike adds to the growing demand for a ceasefire from activists, artists and politicians, as well as staff members working in the US government. But Biden has so far resisted such calls, voicing unwavering support for Israel.

Biden has also pledged more than $14bn in additional US aid to Israel — funds that advocates say are contributing to the Israeli violence.

The protesters at Monday’s event stressed that public opinion polls show that most Americans back a ceasefire. They also underscored the scale of the destruction in Gaza, where more than 14,800 Palestinians have died. United Nations experts have warned that the conflict puts Palestinians “at grave risk of genocide“.

“How many more Palestinians must be killed before you call for a ceasefire, President Biden? We cannot wait any longer,” said Iman Abid, an organiser with the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR).

Israel and Hamas declared a four-day truce in the conflict last week, and on Monday, officials announced the pause in fighting would continue for two additional days, to allow for the release of more Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners.

The hunger-strikers said that the continued pause demonstrates that diplomacy — not bombs — can solve the crisis in Gaza.

Israeli leaders, however, have suggested that they will resume the bombing with more intensity once the truce expires. They have also warned residents from northern Gaza against returning to their homes.

“The area north of the Gaza Strip is a combat zone, and it is forbidden to stay there,” Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said last week.

This week’s hunger strike in Washington, DC, is organised by Palestine solidarity advocates, progressive Jewish groups as well as Arab and Palestinian-American organisations.

Here’s what some of the hunger-strikers at the White House had to say:

Today we begin a hunger strike in front of the White House demanding a permanent ceasefire. pic.twitter.com/BChpnSJX7z

— Sumaya Awad (@sumayaawad) November 27, 2023

Nixon: ‘Never again’ means never again – for anyone

Best known for her work in the TV series Sex and the City, Nixon used her speech at Monday’s event to highlight the carnage in Gaza, including the killings of dozens of journalists and UN workers as well as the destruction of entire neighbourhoods.

“Our president’s seeming disregard for the incredible human toll Israel’s far-right government is exacting on innocent civilians does not remotely reflect the desire of the overwhelming majority of Americans,” she said.

“And I would like to make a personal plea to a president — who has himself experienced such devastating personal loss — to connect with that empathy for which he is so well-known and to look at the children of Gaza and imagine that they were his children.

“We implore him that this current ceasefire must continue, and we must build off it to begin to negotiate a more permanent peace. We cannot keep letting American tax dollars aid and abet the killing and starvation of millions of Palestinians. ‘Never again’ means never again — for anyone.”

Delaware lawmaker Madinah Wilson-Anton: Majority of Americans want ceasefire

Wilson-Anton, a Muslim American legislator from Biden’s home state of Delaware, said that while she is anxious about abstaining from food for several days, her thoughts are with the people of Gaza who are experiencing a massacre with no choice or end in sight.

“The majority of Americans are for a permanent ceasefire. And it’s unfortunate that our president and our congressional members are not being responsive to what’s important to Delawareans and Americans from all states,” Wilson-Anton, a Democrat, said.

“And so I’m hoping that, this week, we’ll be successful in gaining the ear of our president and of our congressional members, so they can actually start to use their privilege and position to negotiate a ceasefire that is lasting.”

New York State Representative Zohran Mamdani: Negotiations, not war, freed captives

Mamdani hailed the release of Israelis held by Hamas and Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during the truce.

“We are hunger striking for a world where everyone is with their family. And it is a world that can only be made possible through a ceasefire. It is not war that brought us these reunifications. It is negotiations; it is a cessation [of hostilities],” he said.

“We hunger-strike not because we want to. We hunger-strike because we have been forced by this president and by our government’s foreign policy. We hunger-strike because Palestinians have been doubted in life and death, and their experience has been erased.”

Activist Rana Abdelhamid: Dehumanising rhetoric normalises Palestinian deaths

Abdelhamid, a New York organiser, linked the killing of Palestinians in Gaza to a rise in prejudice against Arabs and Muslims in the US. She pointed to Saturday’s shooting of three Palestinian students in a suspected hate crime as an example.

“As someone who has been organising against hate-based violence across this country, I’m fully aware that the violence and the anti-Palestinian rhetoric that we’re seeing abroad is also impacting us here in the United States. Those two things are inextricably linked,” Abdelhamid said.

“When our elected [officials] and our politicians and our representatives are continuously dehumanising Palestinian people, are normalising Palestinian deaths, we get what we got two days ago. We get three Palestinian students in Vermont being shot for simply wearing a keffiyeh, for simply speaking Arabic.”

Palestinian-American writer and advocate Sumaya Awad: The US is complicit

Awad stressed that the US is “complicit” in the ongoing violence against Palestinians. She added that the conflict also has domestic ramifications in the US.

“I’m Palestinian and I’m a New Yorker. I’m an American and I’m a mother of a 16-month-old, and I’m on hunger strike to illustrate to our government just a sliver, a fragment of what Palestinians are enduring in Gaza every single day,” Awad said.

“I am on hunger strike to demand a permanent ceasefire and to say that we will continue to pressure our government in every way possible to get that permanent ceasefire because we are not just silent observers. We are complicit in what is happening in Palestine.

“We are on hunger strike because what’s happening in Gaza is not something far away that we have nothing to do with. It has real impacts on our lives here in the US.”