Israel was incensed that 66 orphans were flown from Gaza to the West Bank
The Israeli hostage families voice their agony: “The only way to get rid of malnutrition is through a truce” said Salem Al-Najjar
Many of the hostages are still in captivity and the families of the hostages are waiting for news of a deal to get them out.
Going by numbers provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health, had a deal been reached a month ago, nearly 4,000 Palestinian lives would have been spared, among them 23 children who died of malnutrition.
Salem Al-Najjar, 62, has been living in a tent in Rafah that he built from discarded flour bags and sheets of plastic. He has been living with 10 other members of his family since being displaced from his home in Khan Younis, and is fed up with the delays in negotiations.
“Indeed, we are the ones suffering,” he said. They’re relaxed, not Hamas. They are outside with their children. We are the ones eating.
“The truce is necessary, it’s essential,” said Najjar. Are you satisfied with the people who have died? Isn’t the destruction enough? It’s enough with people that can’t find food or drink, they are begging.”
A 35-year-old woman is also trying to survive with her family. Even a temporary truce cannot come soon enough, even though she is hoping for a permanent cease-fire.
I am waiting for the truce and aid, not just for safety, but also for a decrease in prices. This means a lot to us,” she said, referring to the skyrocketing prices for staple foods in Gaza right now.
Source: As they wait for a truce, Palestinians and Israeli hostage families voice their agony
The hostage problem of the kidnapped Sudanese prime minister and his son, Yair Moses, since the October 7 attack
Among those waiting to be released is Gadi Moses, who will turn 80 on Tuesday. He was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7. His partner was killed in the attack.
His son, Yair Moses, 49, is waiting for his father’s release. He hasn’t heard from him since the video of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was released in December.
He said that it took a lot of effort to stay optimistic despite the reports of cease-fire negotiations.
He understands the need for military pressure on Hamas but wants the government of Netanyahu to focus more on negotiations.
He said about families like his own that they are living in hell. “And we need this hell to finish … they need to understand that bringing them home is the most important thing.”
Itay Raviv, 27, also hopes he’ll see his great uncle, 79-year-old Abraham Munter, again. But like the other hostage families, he has no idea when — or if — his loved one will be released.
“Honestly, we don’t know what to do anymore. We are desperate. “We call out to the world, to our government, to everyone who believes they’re a leader of some kind for help, because nothing changes since the attack nearly five months ago,” said Raviv, referring to the fact that nothing has changed. Everything is stuck.”
Raviv said he doesn’t have a lot of faith in Netanyahu, but is looking to the prime minister to bring the hostages home. He said a deal or something in the future would be on him.
Hamas and Save The Children: A UNRWA Observation of “The Most Serendipitous Situation” in Gaza During the Oct. 7 Attack
UNICEF estimates that at least 17,000 children in Gaza are unaccompanied or separated from their families. At least 12,400 children were killed in last year’s attack on southern Israel by Hamas, according to Save The Children, which is focused on the welfare of children.
The International Committee of the Red Cross released a statement on Saturday calling for a “cessation of hostilities to allow for meaningful assistance to reach the people in need,” the release of the hostages held by Hamas and humane treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody.
Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing approximately 1,200 people and kidnapping 240, according to Israeli officials. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, Israel’s military response has killed over 30,000 people.
After returning from a visit to Rafah, in southern Gaza, last week, Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told Sky News that people there are “the most trapped civilian population under the worst bombardment in modern history, against any civilian population.”
“The most serious situation is in the north, which has been completely isolated for a very long time. Jonathan Fowler, a spokesman for UNRWA, said the aid agency had not gotten food in there since the end of January.
It takes time to ramp up aid distribution — the last cease-fire, which lasted about a week, didn’t see the maximum number of aid trucks enter Gaza until the fifth day — that’s when 300 truckloads of aid went in. 500 per day is needed to sustain the people of Gaza.
The airdrops are also an imperfect means for delivering aid. Some pallet jacks have gone into the Mediterranean Sea. And in one instance, a pallet is believed to have killed five Palestinians when a chute failed to deploy. The deaths weren’t the result of U.S. airdrops, according to the statement posted to X.
The President announced last week that a temporary port was going to be built in Gaza to facilitate aid delivery by sea and it could take weeks to complete.
Israel’s diplomatic relations with the United Nations condemned by the last truce: a statement from the charity SOS Children’s Villages International
Fowler insisted that even if people start getting proper nutrition right now, the affects of what they’ve already suffered will last for a long time.
The last truce released more than 100 hostages taken from Israel by Hamas and the release of nearly 250 Palestinian prisoners and others held by Israel.
According to Egyptian officials, Israel didn’t send a delegation to Cairo last week but was in contact with the mediation team regarding the negotiations.
This is either the fifth or the sixth time. It takes an Israeli delegation three weeks, a week, every three weeks to get to Cairo.
According to a statement from the charity, the care facility in Rafah will not close and will accept children who have lost their parents in the war.
The United Nations said that the transfer was carried out with the approval of Israeli authorities — a decision that has sparked anger among hardliners inside the Israeli government. The national security minister referred to the transfer as fake humane measures, stating that the citizens of Israel will pay the price. Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich demanded to know who gave the immoral order while the children of Israelis are held hostage.
The charity has a facility in Rafah, caring for children who were orphaned before the war, but the increasingly dangerous conditions in the city made the move necessary.
A lot of hope is created by the successful escort. At the same time, our concern remains with all the children who are still in danger in Gaza,” said Angela Maria Rosales, chief program officer at SOS Children’s Villages International.
With the help of the German embassy, the children, staff and their families were evacuated by the charity group SOS Children’s Villages International, and arrived Monday in Bethlehem.
TEL AVIV, Israel – An international non-profit organization has evacuated 68 children without parental care as well as 11 employees and their families from Rafah, in southern Gaza, to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
