Dr. Esi Sharon, the dentist who confirmed the identity of the last fallen hostage, Ran Gvili Hy”d, shared a powerful account of the experience in an interview with Yedioth Acharonot, describing the intense emotions surrounding the moment he was identified.
Recalling the instant she saw the first photograph, Dr. Sharon said, “When I opened the image that they say sent me from the open grave, I shouted, ‘It’s Rani, it’s him.’ I yelled to the doctor to enter the grave and pull out the body for final identification, which would determine with certainty that he returns home to his family, but inside I already knew. The initial image they sent me was enough for me to conclude that it was Rani. I knew his dental records and their identifying marks by heart. My entire body shook from excitement.” Dr. Sharon serves as commander of the Dental Volunteer Unit within the Police Forensics Department.
She went on to explain how the identification effort unfolded on the ground. “The engineering vehicle operators began to dig holes together with soldiers from the Search Unit, and the dentists entered them to take photos and initial identification. After some time, [pictures of] bodies that the dentists photographed while still in the graves and sent us began to accumulate. Through that method, throughout the night, we ruled out 200 bodies whose graves were opened.”
Since the outbreak of the war, Dr. Sharon has worked alongside fellow dentists and forensic professionals to identify hundreds of victims of the Hamas massacre. Under her leadership, the unit successfully identified every deceased hostage whose remains were returned from the Gaza Strip.
During the mission to recover Ran Gvili, a team of 20 dentists examined roughly 250 bodies in a period of less than 24 hours, completing the painstaking process under extreme pressure and time constraints.
{Matzav.com}
One day after the body of Rani Gvili, who was killed in the Gaza Strip, was returned to Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and the government’s Coordinator for Prisoners and Missing Persons, Gal Hirsch, delivered statements to the media addressing the ongoing war, the hostages, and Israel’s next steps.
Netanyahu focused on Israel’s objectives in Gaza and described what he called the essential components of victory. “The complete victory depends on three things-returning all our hostages, dismantling Hamas and its weapons, and demilitarizing the Gaza Strip. Yesterday, we completed the first task.”
Turning to Israel’s plans for Gaza after the fighting, the prime minister drew firm red lines. “We will not allow Turkey to enter Gaza. We will not establish a Palestinian state in Gaza. Israel will maintain security control over the entire area of Gaza.”
Addressing regional threats, Netanyahu warned Iran against any escalation. “The Iranian axis is trying to recover, but we will not allow it to do so. If Iran makes a grave mistake and attacks Israel, we will respond with a force that Iran has never seen before.”
Hirsch spoke emotionally about the cost of the effort to recover hostages and the scale of the losses. He acknowledged the extent of behind-the-scenes work that remains largely unknown to the public, saying, “In Israel, they don’t know everything you did. He helped bring people from Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Venezuela.”
Reflecting on those who were murdered in captivity, Hirsch said, “87 of the kidnapped were killed. I remember them one by one, names and faces, love their families, and am tormented and pained by the terrible suffering and loss.”
Overcome with emotion, he described the personal toll of the mission. “This was the hardest task of my life. It’s not a holiday, but it’s a painful and also a happy day.”
Later, Netanyahu was asked whether national elections would proceed as scheduled amid the political crisis surrounding the conscription law. “That is my hope and aspiration. We need stability, and the last thing Israel needs is elections.”
He was also questioned about preparations for a possible confrontation with Iran and the role of the United States. “President Trump will decide what he decides, and the State of Israel will decide what it decides. We are prepared for any scenario, but I said the main thing here. If Iran makes the mistake and attacks us, it will receive a response it cannot even imagine.”
Netanyahu disclosed challenges Israel faced earlier in the war, including shortages of military supplies. “At a certain point in the war we didn’t have enough ammunition, and soldiers fell. Some of this loss of ammunition also came as a result of the embargo – this changed beyond recognition with the entry of President Trump.”
He concluded by outlining a long-term vision for Israel’s defense independence. “But we have reached security maturity – we must have an independent arms industry. And I intend within a decade to completely free ourselves from the financial component of American security assistance, which currently stands at $4 billion. I want us to move relations with the US from aid relations to cooperation relations – joint investments, joint development and production.”
{Matzav.com}
The Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday evening completed the reading of all sections of the proposed conscription law, marking a major step toward final approval of one of Israel’s most sensitive and long-debated pieces of legislation.
Committee chairman MK Boaz Bismuth announced at the conclusion of the session that the panel has reached the end of the reading stage and that the bill will soon be brought to a vote in the committee ahead of its second and third readings. “We are reaching the finish line,” Bismuth said. “What dragged on for years, what repeatedly got stuck in endless discussions, moved forward during my watch, because there was a clear goal: a law.”
According to Bismuth, the committee’s work was driven by a desire to reach a decision rather than prolong deliberations without resolution. “Brick by brick, through dialogue, cooperation, and determination, we succeeded in completing the complex stage,” he said.
Bismuth also referenced remarks made earlier in the evening by the prime minister, who said Israel is “on the verge of completing the passage of the conscription law.” He noted that responsibility now shifts to the next phase of the legislative process. “The torch passes to the entire Knesset,” Bismuth said, “to continue the process until the law is approved in the plenum.”
{Matzav.com}
Sad news emerged from London on Tuesday night with the passing of R’ Dovid Shimon Berger z”l, a prominent askan for the Satmar and Pshevorsk communities. He was 49.
R’ Dovid Shimon passed away after battling a serious illness over the past year.
R’ Dovid Shimon was the son of the philanthropist and askan R’ Yosef Yechezkel Simcha Berger, the head of the Pshevorsker kehillah in London, and a grandson of R’ Mendel Berger z”l and the renowned philanthropist R’ Getzel Berger z”l.
He was a son-in-law of R’ Avraham Schwartz, and a grandson of the late R’ Lipa Schwartz z”l.
Widely known in London as a dedicated askan, R’ Dovid Shimon devoted himself to the needs of the Satmar mosdos, particularly the Yeitev Lev network, as well as to the Pshevorsker court. He was deeply involved in fundraising for tzedakah and communal causes, and was admired for his generosity, warmth, and open heart.
Yehi zichro baruch.
{Matzav.com}
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that protesters “can’t walk in with guns,” responding to a second fatal encounter involving federal authorities in Minnesota and staking out a position that has angered gun rights advocates.
Trump’s comments followed the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse who was legally carrying a handgun when he was taken to the ground, disarmed, and shot by border agents during a protest in Minneapolis on Saturday.
The incident has placed Trump in a politically fraught position, forcing him to balance support for forceful federal law enforcement actions against potential fallout with gun rights groups that have long been among his strongest supporters.
“You can’t have guns. You can’t walk in with guns,” Trump told reporters when asked about Pretti’s death, which occurred just days after an immigration agent fatally shot unarmed activist Renee Good as she tried to drive away.
“You can’t do that. But it’s a very unfortunate incident.”
Trump’s stance has put him at odds with major conservative gun organizations, which argue that the Second Amendment protects the right to carry firearms while exercising other constitutional freedoms, including the right to protest.
Gun rights groups reacted sharply after senior administration officials appeared to suggest that Pretti’s lawful possession of a firearm justified the actions taken by federal agents.
The National Rifle Association said such assertions were “dangerous and wrong,” calling on public officials to wait for the outcome of an investigation rather than “demonizing law-abiding citizens.”
Gun Owners of America similarly said that Americans do not forfeit their right to bear arms simply because they are participating in a protest.
Trump’s remarks also highlighted strains within his own political camp.
While the president dialed back some of the rhetoric used by aides — rejecting the unfounded description of Pretti as an “assassin” offered by deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller — he did not abandon the broader argument that armed protesters pose an inherent risk to law enforcement officers.
That view has drawn criticism from libertarian-minded Republicans, including Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who said that “carrying a firearm is not a death sentence.”
The controversy has also revived accusations of inconsistency from Trump’s critics.
During the congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021 protest at the U.S. Capitol, testimony from a senior White House aide indicated that Trump was aware some supporters attending his rally were armed, yet pressed for security measures to be relaxed so they could move closer, before urging the crowd to march on Congress.
The contrast has intensified Democratic attacks and unsettled segments of Trump’s base, particularly in light of the administration’s past defense of armed conservatives such as Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted after killing two people with an AR-15-style rifle during a 2020 protest.
{Matzav.com}
Federal border czar Tom Homan held talks Tuesday with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, with the governor’s office saying the two sides committed to maintaining “ongoing dialogue” as the Trump administration intensifies its immigration enforcement efforts in the state.
President Donald Trump sent Homan to Minnesota on Monday following a second fatal shooting of an anti-ICE demonstrator over the weekend. Homan was also slated to meet later Tuesday with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
“I hear that’s all going well,” Trump told reporters before departing for Iowa.
Trump spoke with Walz on Monday and outlined three concrete steps he says are necessary to halt the unrest and avert additional violence.
First, the president is demanding that Minnesota authorities hand over all criminal illegal aliens currently held in state prisons or local jails — along with individuals who have outstanding warrants or documented criminal records — to federal officials for immediate removal.
Second, Trump wants state and local law enforcement agencies to commit to transferring any illegal aliens arrested by local police directly into federal custody.
Third, the administration is insisting that local police departments actively cooperate with federal agents by helping locate, arrest, and detain illegal aliens wanted for crimes, particularly those accused of violent acts.
Walz and Homan “will continue working toward those goals, which the President also agreed to yesterday,” the governor’s office said Tuesday. The statement also urged “impartial investigations into the shootings” of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
“We’re doing a big investigation. I want to see the investigation. I’m going to be watching over it. I want a very honorable and honest investigation — I have to see it myself,” Trump told reporters.
Homan is briefing Trump directly on his discussions in Minnesota. Trump also met Monday night at the White House with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after directing Homan to the state.
That Oval Office meeting, which lasted nearly two hours, highlighted the administration’s resolve to reestablish order and sharpen its immigration enforcement strategy following violent demonstrations and a deadly encounter involving federal agents in Minneapolis.
Trump met with Noem, her senior adviser Corey Lewandowski, and other top White House officials as the administration weighs its next moves after Pretti’s shooting death.
Trump said Tuesday that Noem will continue serving in her position.
“I think she’s doing a very good job … the border is totally secure,” he said.
{Matzav.com}A U.S. Border Patrol agent shot and critically wounded a man Tuesday morning in southern Arizona near a checkpoint roughly 30 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, according to authorities.
The shooting occurred just days after Border Patrol agents deployed to assist ICE operations shot and killed armed ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, a separate incident that has drawn significant attention.
Authorities said the gunfire broke out around 7:30 a.m. on a roadway approximately five miles north of the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Amado, located south of Tucson along the route to the Nogales border crossing.
The injured man was taken into custody and transported to a level-one trauma hospital following the incident.
“Patient care was transferred to a local medical helicopter for rapid transport to a regional trauma center,” the Santa Rita Fire District said.
The FBI said it is “investigating an alleged assault on a federal officer.”
At the request of federal authorities, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department will lead the use-of-force investigation, a spokesperson told The NY Post.
Officials have not released the identity of the suspect.
The sheriff’s department is expected to provide additional information about the shooting and the ongoing investigation during a press conference scheduled for 6 p.m. ET.
{Matzav.com}
