The Israeli army assumes that most of the more than 200 hostages kidnapped in the Gaza Strip are still alive. The military announced this without naming sources for the information. According to official Israeli information, terrorists at the behest of Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, abducted at least 203 people to the coastal strip on October 7th, including Germans and more than 20 children and young people. The army assumes that bodies were also abducted by Hamas.
According to the Israeli army, the arrested Islamist terrorists are being interrogated in order to find out more about the whereabouts of the hostages. “We are collecting a lot of information,” said military spokesman Richard Hecht.
Two Hamas hostages released
Israel has confirmed the first release of two hostages held by the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “This evening (Friday), Judith Tai Raanan and Natalie Shoshana Raanan were released from the hands of the terrorist organization Hamas,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said.
The Israeli responsible for the abductees and missing persons, Brigadier General Gal Hirsch, received them at the border of the Gaza Strip. The two women are now on their way to a military base in the center of the country, where their family members are waiting for them. According to media reports, the two are US citizens.
Middle East summit in Cairo discusses Gaza war
Two weeks after the start of the Gaza war, a “summit for peace” in Egypt aims to pave the way for an end to the violence. Israel is staying away from the meeting this Saturday in the Egyptian capital Cairo, which will be attended by numerous heads of state and government from the Middle East region as well as UN representatives and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Israel said they were not invited and would not attend.
Israel continued to make preparations for a ground offensive in the Mediterranean region: warplanes attacked more than 100 positions during the night and killed a Hamas member involved in the terrorist attacks, the army announced on Friday morning.
Humanitarian aid for more than two million people in the Gaza Strip remains stuck in Egypt. The reason is the conditions that have been placed on the opening of the border post and the forwarding to those in need, said UN Secretary General António Guterres in front of the Rafah border crossing on the Egyptian side.
The Islamist Hamas invaded Israeli border towns with hundreds of terrorists on October 7th and carried out a massacre with 1,400 deaths. Since then, Israel has been bombing Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled to the south.
UN Secretary General: Two million people are suffering enormously
“Behind these walls we have two million people who are suffering enormously,” said Guterres. “They have no water, no food, no medicine, no fuel, they are being shot at. (…) And on this side are the trucks (…) with exactly the things that are needed on the other side.”
Israel does not want responsibility for the Gaza Strip
Israel wants to withdraw from responsibility for life in the coastal enclave after the “elimination of Hamas,” Defense Minister Joav Galant said. He did not say who would then take over the affairs in the Gaza Strip. Israel wants to deprive Hamas of its military and governing capabilities. The Gaza war is divided into three phases.
“We are now in the first phase – a military campaign that currently includes attacks and later maneuvers with the aim of neutralizing terrorists and destroying Hamas infrastructure,” Galant said. In the second phase there are only fights to eliminate the last pockets of terror. The third phase serves to create a “new security reality”. He didn’t give any details.
Hamas Ministry: Death toll in Gaza rises to more than 4,100
The number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war has risen to 4,137, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The authority, which reports to the Islamist Hamas, said on Friday that 13,000 people were injured. The numbers cannot currently be independently verified.
Guterres, Abbas and Erdogan and others at “Summit for Peace”
Foreign Minister Baerbock hopes that the meeting will send a signal against an expansion of the Gaza war. She warned Iran and its allied Shiite militias such as Hezbollah against becoming involved in the Gaza war. Baerbock also met Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen in Tel Aviv on her new trip to the Middle East.
In addition to Egypt’s head of state Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Guterres, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah II as well as EU Council President Charles Michel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and foreign ministers from Great Britain and France are expected.
Israel names red line for fighting with Hezbollah militia
Israel’s army showed its red lines in the conflict with the Lebanese Hsibollah militia. “Hezbollah knows exactly where the border is. If they use their long-range missiles or do something that is very, very aggressive, that would be a game changer,” said military spokesman Richard Hecht. The army is prepared for every scenario.
On Friday, Israel’s army said it attacked members of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah near the border fence in two cases. Israel announced that it would evacuate the northern border town of Kiriat Shmona. The residents are to be accommodated in state-financed guesthouses.
New fighting on the Israeli-Lebanese border
There have been renewed clashes on the Israeli-Lebanese border. According to the Israeli army, three Hezbollah fighters were in the border area, to which the army responded with air attacks. Israeli snipers also fired on gunmen identified in the border area.
At least 20 attacks were also recorded from Lebanon into Israeli territory, including anti-tank missiles. The Israeli military said it responded with artillery. The Shiite militia Hezbollah said it had fired guided missiles into Israeli territory.
Scholz: “Anyone who attacks Jews is attacking us all”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) once again assured Jews in Germany of society’s solidarity. “We are at your side,” Scholz told “Spiegel”. “The state will do everything to protect Jewish life in Germany. Anyone who attacks Jews, who insults or hurts them, is attacking us all.” With regard to anti-Semitic riots, Scholz said that they must be “decisively opposed”.
