Israel-Hamas war: Freed hostage shakes hands with captor as IDF ‘ready’ to invade

A freed Israeli hostage mentioned she has “been by means of hell” throughout the 17 days she was held captive in Gaza by Hamas following its lethal terror assault on southern Israel which left as much as 1,400 useless.

Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, was “taken by means of ploughed fields” and hit by Hamas fighters as she was taken into Gaza by the militants.

However she added the group “taken care of our wants” and fed her pitta bread, onerous cheese, low fats cream cheese and cucumber.

A Palestinian-American girl whose 6-year-old son was killed in what police are calling a hate crime in a Chicago suburb has requested the general public to “pray for peace” as she recuperates from her accidents.

Hanaan Shahin issued a press release Tuesday by means of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations after assembly with the group’s government director a day earlier. The written assertion marked her first public feedback because the brutal 14 October assault that left her with greater than a dozen stab wounds and stitches on her face.

Authorities mentioned the household’s suburban Chicago landlord singled them out due to their Islamic religion and as a response to the escalating Israel-Hamas warfare.

“Pray for peace,” Shahin mentioned, thanking authorities, medical doctors and others. She was launched from the hospital final week and has declined interviews with reporters.

Shahin, who works as a caregiver to seniors, misplaced her son, Wadea Al-Fayoume, within the assault that has contributed to fears about rising hostility in opposition to Muslims and Palestinians within the U.S.

Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, a practising Orthodox Jew, has criticised the BBC’s “abject failure to explain Hamas as what it’s in plain English, a terrorist group”.

Talking within the Lords on Tuesday, he criticised a BBC report by which it “cited uncritically that Israel had struck the Al-Ahli hospital”, which he claimed was “parroting Hamas propaganda”.

Lord Wolfson added: “Others repeated that propaganda, together with I’m afraid, a noble pal of mine, who tweeted not simply that the Israelis had hit the hospital, however that they had focused it. She used that phrase twice.

“I known as that out as a contemporary blood libel and I’m delighted to see that essentially the most Reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury used the identical language just lately as nicely.

“However the injury was finished – different terrorist teams may have seen and brought observe, so we must always keep in mind the outdated injunction: careless speak prices lives.”

His feedback got here after an alternate on social media platform X, previously often called Twitter, with fellow Tory peer Baroness Warsi in regards to the explosion at Al-Ahli hospital.

Russia put ahead its personal different draft decision on Tuesday after saying it doesn’t assist the proposed U.S. motion.

“The entire world is anticipating from the Safety Council a name for a swift and unconditional ceasefire,” Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia advised the Safety Council. “That is exactly what isn’t within the American draft. Subsequently, we don’t see any level in it, and we can not assist it.”

Russia final week didn’t get the minimal 9 votes wanted for a draft decision that known as for a humanitarian ceasefire. The draft decision acquired 5 votes in favor and 4 votes in opposition to, together with six abstentions.

Nebenzia mentioned on Tuesday that the brand new Russian textual content drew on humanitarian language from the U.S., Brazilian and first Russian drafts.

Arab states made clear on the United Nations on Tuesday that they firmly again a name for a humanitarian ceasefire.

“We adopted with remorse the shortcoming of this council twice to undertake a decision and even to name for a ceasefire to finish this warfare,” Egypt’s Overseas Minister Sameh Shoukry advised the council.

America final week vetoed a Brazil-drafted decision for humanitarian pauses, arguing that point was wanted for U.S.-led diplomacy centered on brokering support entry to Gaza on the bottom and attempting to free hostages held by Hamas.

Twelve members voted in favor of the draft textual content on Wednesday, whereas Russia and Britain abstained.

The U.S. then proposed its personal draft textual content on Saturday that originally shocked some council diplomats with its bluntness in stating that Israel has a proper to defend itself and demanding Iran cease exporting arms to militant teams within the area.

It didn’t initially name for any pause or truce. However – responding to rising worldwide strain – it amended the draft to incorporate a name “for all measures needed, reminiscent of humanitarian pauses” to permit support entry.

The U.S. additionally toned down the general draft, eradicating direct references to Iran and to Israel’s proper to self-defence.

America and Russia have put ahead rival plans on the United Nations to assist Palestinian civilians caught within the Israel-Hamas battle within the Gaza Strip: a humanitarian pause or a ceasefire.

Each international locations search U.N. Safety Council resolutions to handle shortages of meals, water, medical provides and electrical energy in Gaza. However the U.S. has known as for pauses to permit support to enter Gaza, whereas Russia needs a humanitarian ceasefire.

A pause is usually thought of much less formal and shorter than a ceasefire. Whereas the variations could seem semantic, the U.S. proposal for pauses has grown out of an preliminary draft given to the 15-member council on Saturday that was staunchly pro-Israel, Washington’s longtime ally.

Russia introduced on Tuesday that it couldn’t assist the U.S. plan for motion and put ahead its personal textual content that requires a ceasefire, an concept backed by Arab states.

A council decision wants not less than 9 votes and no vetoes by the US, France, Britain, Russia or China to be adopted. It was not instantly clear if or when the U.S. and Russian draft resolutions may very well be put to a vote.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the case for the U.S. draft decision at a Safety Council assembly on Tuesday, saying the physique had an important position to play and that the U.S. textual content “units out sensible steps.”

The United Nations, United States and Canada have appealed for a humanitarian pause within the Israel-Hamas warfare to permit protected deliveries of support to civilians in need of meals, water, drugs and electrical energy within the besieged Gaza Strip.

Worldwide strain for unimpeded support to Gaza rose because the well being ministry within the Hamas-ruled coastal territory mentioned Israeli air strikes had killed greater than 700 Palestinians in a single day. Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra mentioned this was the best 24-hour demise toll in Israel’s two-week-old siege.

U.N. businesses had been pleading “on our knees” for emergency support to be let into Gaza unimpeded, saying greater than 20 instances present deliveries had been wanted to assist the slim strip’s 2.3 million individuals amid widespread devastation from Israel’s aerial blitz.

Eight vans containing water, meals and drugs entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt late on Tuesday, the Palestinian Purple Crescent mentioned.

America is negotiating with Israel, neighbouring Egypt and the U.N. to easy emergency deliveries into Gaza, however have wrangled over procedures for inspecting the help and over bombardments on the Gaza facet of the border.

“Whereas we stay against a ceasefire, we expect humanitarian pauses linked to the supply of support that also enable Israel to conduct army operations to defend itself are value consideration,” a senior U.S. official mentioned.

An 85-year-old Israeli hostage launched by Hamas has mentioned she went “by means of hell” throughout her kidnap, describing how she was crushed with sticks throughout her abduction, pushed off on a bike and compelled to stroll for various hours by means of an enormous “spider’s net” of moist tunnels in Gaza.

Nevertheless, Yocheved Lifshitz – the primary to supply an image of the ordeal confronted by these taken hostage by Hamas – additionally spoke of the “care” she acquired from a few of her captors as soon as she was within the tunnels and saying was advised she was not going to be harm, one thing that will have led to a rare gesture in the meanwhile of her launch after two weeks in captivity.

A pause after which turning to shake the hand of a masked Hamas militant. “Shalom,” she mentioned, the Hebrew phrase for peace.

After the uproar, the driving force was shortly recognized and suspended while TfL vowed to “absolutely examine the incident in step with our insurance policies and procedures”.

Plumes of smoke crammed the sky close to Al-Amal Hospital in Kana Yunis, Gaza earlier right now.

Footage printed by the Palestine Purple Crescent Society (PRCS) reveals crowds of individuals working after experiences of heavy bombardment within the surrounding space. Reuters have verified the placement of this video.

The Palestinian well being ministry have mentioned greater than 5,000 individuals have been killed in Gaza following two weeks of intense air strikes by Israeli forces in response to a devastating Hamas assault on southern Israel on 7 October.

Greater than 1,400 individuals have been killed in Israel following the assault by Hamas, in response to Israeli officers.