Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA) - Hamas has returned bodies of four Israeli hostages who were killed in captivity in Gaza - the final group of hostages to be released under the terms of the first phase of a ceasefire that began last month. The four hostages, all men 50 or older, were abducted in Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Unlike previous hostage releases under the current ceasefire, their bodies were handed to Israel quietly, without a public ceremony early on the morning of Feb. 27. That stipulation came after Hamas...
(JNS) — Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Tuesday hailed the island nation of Fiji’s decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem. “I commend the Republic of Fiji’s government for its historic decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish people. Thank you, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, friend of Israel. Thank you, Fiji! tweeted Sa’ar. I commend the Republic of Fiji’s government for its historic decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish people. Thank you, Rabuka had confirmed...
(JNS) — The surviving member of the Bibas family, Yarden, shared a poignant eulogy at Kibbutz Nir Oz for the burial of his wife, Shiri, and their two children, Ariel and Kfir who were murdered by the hands of Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Yarden recalled his deep love for Shiri, remembering their first moments together and their bond as best friends, a wife, and a mother. He expressed deep sorrow and regret for not being able to protect them, especially during the tragic events on Oct. 7 when Gazans snatched them from their home. “I remember the...
(JNS) - "Looking at their scared frightened faces, begging to come out, wanting to be like their friends who got released, it is very hard to see your son begging for his life, asking to come out," Ilan Dalal, the father of Guy Gilboa-Dalal, told JNS. On Saturday, Hamas published a propaganda video showing Israeli hostages Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David at their friends' release ceremony from captivity in Gaza. Hamas compelled the two to watch the ceremony from inside a vehicle as Israel...
(JNS) - Kibbutz Nir Oz announced early Saturday morning that resident Shiri Bibas was murdered while held captive in Gaza, after Hamas said it returned her body to Israel late the previous night. "With pain and deep sorrow, Kibbutz Nir Oz announces the murder of Shiri Bibas, may her memory be a blessing, who was kidnapped from her home," according to a statement from the community. On Thursday, Hamas returned the bodies of the Bibas children, Kfir and Ariel, along with that of octogenarian Oded Lifshitz. However, the fourth body freed from...
(JNS) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday night ordered the military to conduct a "massive" counter-terrorism operation in Judea and Samaria, after three buses exploded near Tel Aviv and bombs were found on two others in what is being investigated as a coordinated attack. Netanyahu also instructed the Israel Security Agency and Israel Police to step up "preventive activities" against possible additional attacks across the country. Following a situational assessment on...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - The family of Hamas hostages Gali and Ziv Berman has received the first sign of life from the twin brothers in nearly 500 days. The brothers were abducted from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on Oct. 7, 2023, along with Emily Damari, Doron Steinbrecher and Amit Soussana, who have since been freed. "On one hand, we can breathe a little easier, but we also know whose hands they are in and the grave danger to their lives," said the twins' aunt, Makabit Meyer. "They are alive, and we must...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Intelligence gathered from hostages released from Gaza suggests Alon Ohel, 24, abducted from the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, may lose his vision. According to information disclosed Sunday morning on Kan Reshet Bet radio, reports from captives freed from Gaza indicate Ohel has sustained shrapnel injuries to an eye and can’t even detect shadows with it. Medical sources indicate that based on survivor testimonies, he risks losing vision in both eyes. As discussions continue over the future of the hostage/ceas...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - The purported remains of Oded Lifshitz, 84, one of the founders of Kibbutz Nir Oz, were returned to Israel on Thursday, as part of the first phase of the hostage deal after his death has been all but confirmed a day earlier. Lifshitz was abducted from his home during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack alongside his wife, Yocheved. The body was handed over to Israel on Feb. 19 as part of the latest swap in the hostage deal with Hamas, after which confirmation of its identity...
(JTA) - The oldest hostage in Gaza is not alive, Israeli authorities announced on Tuesday. Shlomo Mantzur was killed 16 months ago, during Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and his body was taken to Gaza, Israeli officials said they determined after assessing intelligence data gathered in recent months. He was 85 at the time and is survived by a wife, five children and 12 grandchildren. Mantzur, who moved to Israel as a child after his family fled their native Iraq following the 1941...
(JNS) - Hundreds of thousands of shattered and fire-damaged wine bottles, some with wine remnants, line the floor of a once-thriving winery in Moshav Avivim, a picturesque community on Israel's border with Lebanon. The tableau of devastation at the former winery in this deserted Israeli village in the Upper Galilee just down the hill from Lebanon has remained frozen in time since four Hezbollah missiles demolished the site last year in multiple attacks and with it some 300,000 bottles of wine....
(JNS) - Three Israeli men regained their freedom on Saturday, after 498 days of captivity in the Gaza Strip. The hostages were handed over to representatives of the Red Cross at a staged event in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, shortly after 10 a.m., and to the IDF and the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) at approximately 10:30, and were being escorted to Israeli territory for an initial medical examination. Alexandre ("Sasha") Troufanov, 29, who has dual Russian citizenship, had been...
(JNS) — During a meeting with European Union ambassadors in Israel on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar warned that Jerusalem would resume military actions in Gaza if Hamas does not release the hostages. “We discussed today Hamas’s announcement of its intention to violate the framework for the release of the hostages. A decision by Hamas not to release the hostages is essentially a decision to return to war. So far, we have not taken any unilateral actions,” Israel’s top diplomat said. FM Gideon Sa’ar to EU ambassadors: “If Hamas doe...
(JNS) - For the first time since being released on Feb.1 as part of the ceasefire deal, former hostage Keith Siegel, an American-Israeli, released a video on Friday detailing his experience in captivity. "My name is Keith Siege,l and I am a 65-year-old American citizen," the video began, featuring Siegel in a blue sweater with a yellow hostage pin. "I love country music, and I love pancakes on Saturday morning. But that was my previous life. Since Feb. 1, I am a newly released Hamas hostage. I...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — A recently released hostage has provided the first confirmation in months that Omri Miran, 47, held captive in Gaza, was alive and in relatively stable condition as of July. “We received confirmation of Omri’s condition through one of the returned hostages,” his brother Boaz revealed on Tuesday, speaking about Omri, who has now been in captivity for 495 days. “They shared that his condition was generally stable during their time together, when they were being held in b...
Three more Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for 491 days were released last week. The three men returned home emaciated, gaunt, and with signs of suffering from severe malnourishment including complex cardiac issues and infections. Seeing them paraded by Hamas in a dehumanizing public spectacle before thousands of armed terrorists and jeering “innocent civilians,” it was impossible to avoid the analogy that they looked like people who had survived Nazi concentration camps 80 years ago. In addition to deliberate starvation, there are mul...
(JNS) — Alexandre (“Sasha”) Troufanov, who was released yesterday from Hamas captivity in Gaza, put on tefillin for the first time on Sunday, with the help of Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar. Lazar gave Troufanov, who is a dual citizen of Israel and Russia, a tefillin set and a Chumash—a copy of the Torah in book form—the Charedim 10 news site reported. In a video conversation on Sunday, Troufanov thanked Lazar for working to free him and other hostages. “I truly appreciate everything you have done. You are wonderful people, you have a huge...
By Yaakov Lappin (JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces stands ready to redeploy throughout the Gaza Strip, should the Cabinet give the order, according to military sources, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set an ultimatum for Hamas to release hostages by noon on Saturday. The timeline for such a redeployment would be very rapid, according to the sources, and the IDF’s presence in Gaza can be re-established in very little time, similar to the speed with which the Israeli military withdrew, military sources told JNS on Tuesday. The Netzarim Cor...
(JNS) — The Oct. 7, 2023, attacks marked the end of the two-state solution, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana told visiting European Parliament President Roberta Metsola in Jerusalem on Thursday. Ohana, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party and ruling coalition, blamed Gaza’s education system for inciting violence and suggested that only the approach proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump offers a fresh perspective. The American president’s plan includes the resettlement of Gazans to other countries while the war-torn coastal...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - Negotiations on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement and of hostage deal began in Washington with a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff. As stipulated in the initial agreement, talks on the second phase were set to begin on the 16th day of the deal and it now appears that this is about far more than just another stage in a temporary agreement. Israel seems to be on the path to...
IDF unveils portable Torah scrolls for field conditions (JNS) - Israel's Military Rabbinate this week unveiled a portable Holy Ark containing a Torah scroll that army rabbis designed to be worn like a backpack and which 0can be converted into a small podium, or bimah, for reading scripture. The rabbinate developed the gadget for use in field and combat conditions in connection with the outbreak of war on Oct. 7, 2023, the news site Srugim reported on Sunday. "When it comes to transporting a...
(JNS) — Over the past month, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) agents, working alongside the Israel Defense Forces, have thwarted 90 major terrorist attacks, including 75 in Samaria, as security sources warn that Iran is fueling violence in Judea and Samaria. A security official identified Tehran as a central force escalating tensions by supplying weapons and financial aid to terrorist networks, significantly increasing the security threat, Channel 12 News reported on Wednesday. The IDF and Shin Bet have expanded “Operation Iron Wall,” now i...
(JNS) — Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare a plan to facilitate the voluntary departure of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The statement comes in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal this week that Gaza’s population be relocated to Egypt, Jordan and additional countries. “The plan will include exit options at land crossings as well as special arrangements for exit by sea and air,” said Katz. “I welcome U.S. President Donald Trump’s bold plan. The res...
(JTA) - JERUSALEM - In the haredi Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Geula, a newly renamed pizzeria advertised a special just for Monday: Customers who bought two slices would get a free order of fries. The timing wasn't random. The shop's new name is Pizza Trump, and the special was pegged to the inauguration of its namesake, who returned to the U.S. presidency on the day the deal was offered. The restaurant's slogan: "Make pizza great again." Did the shtick bring in more customers? "Maybe," s...
(JNS) - "We didn't know which Ofer we would get back," Eyal Kalderon, the cousin of ex-Hamas hostage Ofer Kalderon, told JNS on Monday. "The Ofer that we know is the happy, playful Ofer who jokes a lot and puts a smile on everyone's face the second he enters a room. We didn't know if we'd get that Ofer back," he said. Yarden Bibas, Kalderon and Keith Siegel were freed on Feb. 1 after 484 days in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip. Bibas and Kalderon were handed over to the Red Cross in Khan...
