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Despite reports from Hamas claiming to have found the body of IDF officer Lt. Hadar Goldin in Rafah, there remains no clarity regarding whether, or when, the terror group plans to hand over his remains to Israel. The statement, aired through Al Jazeera, ignited both hope and confusion, as Israeli officials initially anticipated that the transfer might occur Saturday night—but the militant group has since gone silent.

In an apparent act of psychological manipulation, Hamas earlier released footage through Al Jazeera purporting to show its operatives at a tunnel entrance alongside Red Cross representatives. The video depicted them extracting a bag seemingly containing a body, to which they attached a label reading “Hadar Golden” in Hebrew, English, and Arabic before removing it from the site.

As speculation grew, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir personally visited the Goldin family at their home Saturday night to brief them on the situation and share the information available to the army.

“The Chief of Staff met this evening with the Goldin family and updated them on the details known to the IDF at this time. This meeting comes in the context of the close relationship the Chief of Staff has maintained with the family over many years. The Chief of Staff reaffirmed his personal commitment and the IDF’s commitment to bringing Hadar and all fallen hostages home, and emphasized the importance of restraint during these sensitive moments, until his return and the completion of all necessary checks and verifications are completed,” the IDF said in an official statement.

The Goldin family, in turn, expressed both hope and resolve in their public message. “An entire nation is waiting for Hadar to be returned to us. This is a mission that must and can be accomplished, for all of us. The IDF Chief of Staff came after the conclusion of Shabbat to update us on the tremendous efforts underway to secure the release of the hostages, and we salute everyone involved in this national mission. We are awaiting official confirmation that Hadar has returned to Israel. In this country, we never give up on anyone, ever. We ask everyone to remain calm. Until it is final, it is not over.”

For now, uncertainty lingers as Israel continues to verify Hamas’s claim. The long-awaited return of Lt. Goldin—whose body has been held in Gaza since Operation Protective Edge in 2014—remains an unfinished chapter in the painful story of Israel’s missing soldiers.

{Matzav.com}

Trump pardons New York baseball star Darryl Strawberry for tax evasion conviction • President Donald Trump pardoned Major League Baseball legend Darryl Strawberry, who had pleaded guilty to tax evasion three decades earlier, the White House said Friday. • Strawberry, now 63, is an eight-time MLB All-Star who helped take the New York Mets and […]

UPS and FedEx grounded their MD-11 cargo planes after a deadly crash in Louisville left over a dozen people dead

FAA-mandated flight cancellations to worsen next week if shutdown continues • Trump administration officials ordered commercial airlines to cut hundreds of flights, citing strains on air traffic control during the government shutdown. • Air traffic controllers are set to miss their second full paycheck next week because of the shutdown. • Flight cuts could ramp […]

MAMDANI: “This is the first event I’ve done since I won the election last Tuesday” CROWD: “Allah Akbar”

A Hamas source told Al Jazeera on Shabbos that they located the remains of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, H’yd in a tunnel in Rafah. Hours before the Al Jazeera report, Palestinian outlets reported that the Red Cross and Hamas entered Rafah’s Al-Janina neighborhood, where about 200 terrorists are currently trapped in tunnels in an area […]

Airlines cancel more than 700 U.S. flights as FAA-ordered shutdown cuts begin • U.S. airlines canceled hundreds of flights on Friday, hours after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the cuts amid the government shutdown. • The reduction hit 40 airports, including some of the nation’s largest ones. • The Department of Transportation warned cancellations could […]

Supreme Court pauses order that Trump administration must pay full SNAP benefits • The Supreme Court temporarily paused a federal judge’s order that the Trump administration must pay full SNAP benefits to 42 million Americans for November by the end of the day. • The move came hours after the 1st Circuit U.S. Court of […]

HY’D: The remains returned to Israel on Friday by the Islamic Jihad and Hamas terror groups were identified as belonging to Lior Rudaeff, H’yd, following forensic examinations. Rudaeff was killed battling Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists at Kibbutz Nir Yitzchak during the October 7 massacre, and his body was abducted to Gaza. Rudaeff, a member of […]

UPS and FedEx said they are grounding their fleets of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 planes “out of an abundance of caution” following a deadly crash at the UPS global aviation hub in Kentucky. The crash Tuesday at UPS Worldport in Louisville killed 14 people, including the three pilots on the MD-11 that was headed for Honolulu. […]

U.S. airlines again canceled more than 1,000 flights on Saturday, the second day of the Federal Aviation Administration’s mandate to reduce air traffic because of the government shutdown. So far, the slowdown at many of the nation’s busiest airports hasn’t caused widespread disruptions. But it has deepened the impact felt by the nation’s longest federal […]

Story If you have upcoming travel plans anytime soon, you might notice fewer options on the airport’s departure board. Airlines are scaling back flights at dozens of major U.S. airports to ease the pressure on air traffic controllers, who have been working unpaid and under intense strain during the ongoing government shutdown. The Federal Aviation […]

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The Supreme Court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s emergency appeal to temporarily block a court order to fully fund SNAP food aid payments amid the government shutdown, even though residents in some states already have received the funds. A judge had given the Republican administration until Friday to make the payments through the Supplemental […]

Democratic Party chairman Yair Golan declared that he views the Arab parties as “partners” but completely ruled out any political cooperation with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit parties. “The Arab parties are partners, in my view,” Golan said in an interview. “The principle is very simple: any Arab leader […]

A Hamas terrorist who took part in the October 7 massacre in Israel is living freely in Belgium, the Jewish Information and Documentation Center (JID) has revealed. The JID organization, a Belgian antisemitism watchdog, reported that Hamas terrorist Mohand Al-Khatib, who was filmed participating in the massacre, lives as a free man in Brussels, regularly […]

A Hamas source told Al Jazeera on Shabbos that the terror group located the remains of IDF soldier Hadar Goldin, H’yd in a tunnel in eastern Rafah. Hours before the Al Jazeera report, Palestinian outlets reported that vehicles belonging to the Red Cross and Hamas entered Rafah’s Al-Janina neighborhood, where about 200 terrorists are currently […]

The remains returned to Israel on Friday by the Islamic Jihad and Hamas terror groups were identified as belonging to Lior Rudaeff, H’yd, following forensic examinations. Rudaeff was killed battling Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists at Kibbutz Nir Yitzchak during the October 7 massacre, and his body was abducted to Gaza. Rudaeff, a member of the […]

A quiet morning swim at Hatzuk Beach took an unexpected turn when Noa Itiel spotted something glimmering beneath the surface — the missing cell phone of ex-Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi. What began as a routine dip in the sea quickly became the discovery that may alter the course of a sensitive investigation.

“I was swimming, and suddenly, I saw a white device on the sea floor. I called my friend over. I dove and picked it up. When I got to the shore, I tapped the screen, and my jaw dropped. I saw the familiar photo that was in the press,” Itiel recounted in an interview with Walla!. The moment, she said, instantly felt unusual. Even before she reached land, she sensed that what she had found was far from ordinary.

The find came after nearly a week of extensive search efforts. Ever since the former MAG vanished along Israel’s central coastline for several hours on Sunday, divers, police officers, and volunteers with metal detectors had combed the beach and surrounding waters without success. Despite their tireless efforts, nothing surfaced—until Friday morning, when unusually clear water revealed the phone lying on the seabed. “I swim here every day,” she explained. “We usually look for sea turtles and fish. Today, I found something totally different.”

Itiel’s instincts immediately told her to protect what she had found. “Someone approached me and said that he would give the phone to the police, but I said that I would do it myself. I knew I was holding something unusual. Maybe even something that would influence the entire investigation. I knew I had to do it correctly.” Her caution proved warranted. Police later confirmed that the device did, in fact, belong to Tomer-Yerushalmi and has since been transferred to a forensic lab for analysis.

The find carried an emotional weight for Itiel that went beyond the discovery itself. “My family lost loved ones in October. Everything connects for me. I felt that I was part of something important – maybe even a form of closure. What guided me was that the truth would come to light and that we would be united.”

Investigators are now focusing on critical questions surrounding the incident: how the phone ended up in the sea, whether it had been deactivated beforehand, and if any attempt was made to conceal evidence. Experts believe that if the device’s contents can be retrieved, they could hold key insights — possibly the most revealing element yet in a mystery that continues to captivate national attention.

{Matzav.com}

Israeli officials confirmed Friday that the coffin of a presumed hostage has been transferred back into Israel under military escort. According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, the coffin — received via the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) — was handed over to a joint IDF and Shin Bet unit inside […]