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The looming threat of the draft law continues to weigh heavily on rabbonim and communal leaders, and discussions are intensifying over the possibility of organizing a massive public gathering of the entire chareidi community.

After the cancellation of previously planned demonstrations before Rosh Chodesh Elul, Matzav.com has learned that preparations are now being made in the homes of gedolei Yisroel to hold a major asifah in the coming week. The goal is for all factions of chareidi Jewry to unite in a joint outcry and heartfelt tefillah over the gezeiras hagiyus.

Sources confirm that rabbonim have been visiting the homes of leading gedolim in recent days to finalize details. While it remains to be decided if the event will be formally declared an “Asifas HaMillion,” organizers are clearly aiming to bring together the broad spectrum of Klal Yisroel for a unified demonstration of tefillah and protest, with Thursday mentioned as a possible date.

As previously reported, gedolei Yisroel had earlier drafted a letter calling for such a mass rally during bein hazmanim, but the initiative was shelved at the time, and no gatherings ultimately took place. Now, however, the momentum appears to be shifting toward a large-scale event that would express the anguish of the Torah world over the government’s plans.

{Matzav.com}

A New York Supreme Court granted a decisive victory today to schools that had been deemed “nonequivalent.” This development in the decade-long substantial equivalency saga — predicated on legislation advocated for by Agudath Israel and others — allows parents in these schools to exhale once more, and can have broader positive implications for yeshivas long-term.

In May 2025, all parents of six schools received a foreboding letter from New York City stating that their child’s school:

“shall no longer be deemed a school which provides compulsory education… effective June 30th, 2025, all services at the school for your child will be discontinued, including special education and related services. Given that your child will no longer be able to attend this school, a decision must be made about what school your child will attend for the 2025-2026 school year and you must notify the New York City Department of Education of where your child will be enrolled by July 1st 2025.” [emphasis added]

The letter continues by describing how parents will proceed if their child attends public school in 2025-2026.

This legislative session, new language, fundamentally redefining how nonpublic schools can satisfy “substantial equivalency,” became law.

SED had argued that all schools can opt in to the new legislation, except for schools that had already been deemed nonequivalent prior to the legislation’s enactment. The court refuted SED’s claim, calling it “arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law.” The court further rejected SED’s argument that the schools cannot avail themselves of the new legislation because, by being non-equivalent, they are “non-schools,” and thus are ineligible to make a selection.

This case may have long-term implications if, in the future, any school is declared non-equivalent. Based on this ruling, a school can still choose to avail itself of a pathway. The “non-school” argument was soundly defeated.

The Agudah congratulates Steven Barshov, Esq., of SBarshov Law PLLC, who represented the yeshivas and parents in this case.

{Matzav.com}

Nearly 50 years ago, a U.S. government ship searching for minerals and hydrocarbons in the area drilled into the seafloor to see what it could find. It found, of all things, drops to drink under the briny deeps — fresh water. This summer, a first-of-its-kind global research expedition followed up on that surprise. Drilling for fresh water under the salt water off Cape Cod, Expedition 501 extracted thousands of samples from what is now thought to be a massive, hidden aquifer stretching from New Jersey as far north as Maine. It’s just one of many depositories of “secret fresh water” known to exist in shallow salt waters around the world that might some day be tapped to slake the planet’s intensifying thirst, said Brandon Dugan, the expedition’s co-chief scientist. “We need to look for every possibility we have to find more water for society,” Dugan, a geophysicist and hydrologist at the Colorado School of Mines, told Associated Press journalists who recently spent 12 hours on the drilling platform. The research teams looked in “one of the last places you would probably look for fresh water on Earth.” They found it, and will be analyzing nearly 50,000 liters (13,209 gallons) of it back in their labs around the world in the coming months. They’re out to solve the mystery of its origins — whether the water is from glaciers, connected groundwater systems on land or some combination. The potential is enormous. So are the hurdles of getting the water out and puzzling over who owns it, who uses it and how to extract it without undue harm to nature. It’s bound to take years to bring that water ashore for public use in a big way, if it’s even feasible. The Ancient Mariner told us so Why try? In just five years, the U.N. says, the global demand for fresh water will exceed supplies by 40%. Rising sea levels from the warming climate are souring coastal freshwater sources while data centers that power AI and cloud computing are consuming water at an insatiable rate. The fabled Ancient Mariner’s lament, “Water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink,” looms as a warning to landlubbers as well as to sailors on salty seas. In Virginia alone, a quarter of all power produced in the state goes to data centers, a share expected to nearly double in five years. By some estimates, each midsize data center consumes as much water as 1,000 households. Each of the Great Lakes states has experienced groundwater shortages. Cape Town, South Africa, came perilously close to running out of fresh water for its nearly 5 million people in 2018 during an epic, three-year drought. South Africa is thought to have a coastal undersea freshwater bonanza, too, and there is at least anecdotal evidence that every continent may have the same. Canada’s Prince Edward Island, Hawaii and Jakarta, Indonesia, are among places where stressed freshwater supplies coexist with prospective aquifers under the ocean. Enter Expedition 501, a $25 million scientific collaboration of more than a dozen countries backed by the U.S. government’s National Science Foundation and the European Consortium for Ocean Research Drilling (U.S. money for it was secured before budget cuts sought by the Trump administration). Scientists went into the project believing the undersea aquifer they were sampling might be sufficient to meet the needs […]

After six weeks during which Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu temporarily held the Yerushalayim and Tradition Affairs portfolio, a compromise arrangement has been reached. Justice Minister Yariv Levin will assume the role of Acting Minister for Yerushalayim and Tradition, while Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi will be given direct responsibility for the annual Lag BaOmer pilgrimage in Meron.

According to the cabinet agenda released Friday, Levin’s appointment will be formalized at Sunday’s government meeting. His term as acting minister will last for three months, during which he will continue to hold his other positions—Justice Minister, Acting Interior Minister, and Acting Religious Affairs Minister.

The reshuffle follows the resignation of former minister Meir Porush, who stepped down amid disagreements over the draft law. Netanyahu had held the ministry himself since Porush’s departure.

As part of the arrangement, practical oversight of the Meron celebrations, including preparations, coordination, and execution of the massive annual event, will be transferred to Minister Karhi. Levin had expressed reluctance to personally take on responsibility for Meron, leading to the split in duties.

{Matzav.com}

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Reb Yoel Simcha z”l, a devoted chossid of Ger and longtime administrator of the Yeshiva Ketana of Ger in Brooklyn. He was 37 years old.

Reb Yoel, remembered for his open heart and boundless kindness, endured much suffering throughout his short life. Friends often referred to him as “Yoel baal yissurim,” recognizing both his struggles and the noble way in which he bore them.

He was a son of Reb Avrohom Binyomin Simcha and grew up steeped in the traditions of Ger. His life was marked by dedication to chessed, to Torah, and to the yeshiva where he faithfully served as administrator, ensuring its smooth functioning with quiet devotion.

In recent years, Reb Yoel was stricken with illness but miraculously recovered. Just last year, after his recovery, he marked the occasion by making a l’chaim and bentching Gomel before the Gerrer Rebbe during the Rebbe’s visit to America for the wedding of his daughter, Reb Yisroel Menachem Alter’s child.

Sadly, in recent weeks, the disease returned with far greater intensity. Out of concern not to burden others, Reb Yoel kept the severity of his condition hidden from his family and friends. Only as his health rapidly deteriorated did he inform his parents, who immediately traveled from abroad to be at his side.

Throughout his final weeks, he lay in the hospital in excruciating pain, yet he requested not to be sedated, explaining that he wished to accept yissurim mechaperim — suffering as atonement. Even as his condition worsened, he sought halachic guidance from the Gerrer dayan, Rav Hershel Rotenberg, and asked that whatever the dayan ruled should be followed. In the end, his medication was changed, but his wish to remain conscious was honored until his weakness overtook him.

During his last days, many friends and fellow Gerrer chassidim kept vigil by his bedside. They sang and tried to uplift his spirits, joined by his chavrusa, Rabbi Yehuda Taub, who remained constantly at his side. This morning, Erev Shabbos Parshas Ki Seitzei, he was niftar. 

The levayah was held this morning at the Gerrer Yeshiva Ketana in Boro Park.

Reb Yoel is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.com}

Over a recent two-year period, the Pentagon funded hundreds of projects done in collaboration with universities in China and institutes linked to that nation’s defense industry, including many blacklisted by the U.S. government for working with the Chinese military, a congressional investigation has found. The report, released Friday by House Republicans on the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, argues the projects have allowed China to exploit U.S. research partnerships for military gains while the two countries are locked in a tech and arms rivalry. “American taxpayer dollars should be used to defend the nation — not strengthen its foremost strategic competitor,” Republicans wrote in the report. “Failing to safeguard American research from hostile foreign exploitation will continue to erode U.S. technological dominance and place our national defense capabilities at risk,” it said. The Pentagon and didn’t immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment. The congressional report said some officials at the Defense Department argued research should remain open as long as it is “neither controlled nor classified.” The report makes several recommendations to scale back U.S. research collaboration with China. It also backs new legislation proposed by the committee’s chairman, Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Michigan. The bill would prohibit any Defense Department funding from going to projects done in collaboration with researchers affiliated with Chinese entities that the U.S. government identifies as safety risks. Beijing has in the past said science and technological cooperation between the two countries is mutually beneficial and helps them cope with global challenges. The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. Republicans say the joint research could have military applications The 80-page report builds on the committee’s findings last year that partnerships between U.S. and Chinese universities over the past decade allowed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to help Beijing develop critical technology. Amid pressure from Republicans, several U.S. universities have ended their joint programs with Chinese schools in recent years. The new report focuses more narrowly on the Defense Department and its billions of dollars in annual research funding. The committee’s investigation identified 1,400 research papers published between June 2023 and June 2025 that acknowledged support from the Pentagon and were done in collaboration with Chinese partners. The publications were funded by some 700 defense grants worth more than $2.5 billion. Of the 1,400 publications, more than half involved organizations affiliated with China’s defense research and industrial base. Dozens of those organizations were flagged for potential security concerns on U.S. government lists, though federal law does not prohibit research collaborations with them. The Defense Department money supported research in fields including hypersonic technology, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, advanced materials and next-generation propulsion. Many of the projects have clear military applications, according to the report. In one case, a nuclear scientist at Carnegie Science, a research institution in Washington, worked extensively on Pentagon-backed research while holding appointments at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences. The scientist, who has done research on high-energy materials, nitrogen and high-pressure physics — all of which are relevant to nuclear weapons development — has been honored in China for his work to advance the country’s national development goals, the report said. It called the case “a deeply troubling example” of how Beijing can leverage U.S. taxpayer-funded research to further its weapons development. In another Pentagon-backed project, […]

Tensions between Yerushalayim and Cairo escalated further as Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu accused Egypt of “imprisoning against their will residents in Gaza who want to leave a war zone.”

His remarks followed criticism from Egypt over comments he made in an interview with the Abu Ali Express channel. In that exchange, Netanyahu said he was prepared to let residents of Gaza exit through the Rafah Crossing, but added that “they would be blocked by Egypt.”

Egypt’s foreign ministry quickly pushed back, issuing a statement expressing its “utmost condemnation” of Netanyahu’s claim. The ministry said the remarks were “part of his continuous attempts to prolong the period of escalation in the region and entrench instability to avoid confronting the consequences of Israeli violations in Gaza, both internally and externally.”

“Displacement is not an option and it is a red line for Egypt and we will not allow it to happen,” declared Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty during a press conference Friday in Nicosia.

“Displacement means liquidation and the end of the Palestinian cause and there is no legal or moral or ethical ground to evict people from their homeland,” he continued. Abdelatty also repeated Cairo’s long-standing charge that Israel is carrying out genocide, a claim that Israel firmly denies.

In the meantime, Egypt has been reinforcing its military presence along the border with Gaza. The move comes as the IDF prepares for a major push to seize control of Gaza City, raising fears that the large-scale evacuation from northern Gaza could result in Palestinians attempting to cross into Egyptian territory.

The Rafah border has been shut since Israeli forces took over the crossing. Security officials note that, after the October 7, 2023 outbreak of war, Egypt constructed a fortified barrier along its frontier—consisting of a concrete wall extending six meters underground, topped with barbed wire, as well as berms and upgraded surveillance systems.

{Matzav.com}

A New York Supreme Court granted a decisive victory today to schools that had been deemed “nonequivalent.” This development in the decade-long substantial equivalency saga — predicated on legislation advocated for by Agudath Israel and others — allows parents in these schools to exhale once more, and can have broader positive implications for yeshivas long-term. In May 2025, all parents of six schools received a foreboding letter from New York City stating that their child’s school: “shall no longer be deemed a school which provides compulsory education… effective June 30th, 2025, all services at the school for your child will be discontinued, including special education and related services. Given that your child will no longer be able to attend this school, a decision must be made about what school your child will attend for the 2025-2026 school year and you must notify the New York City Department of Education of where your child will be enrolled by July 1st 2025.” [emphasis added] The letter continues by describing how parents will proceed if their child attends public school in 2025-2026. This legislative session, new language, fundamentally redefining how nonpublic schools can satisfy “substantial equivalency,” became law. SED had argued that all schools can opt in to the new legislation, except for schools that had already been deemed nonequivalent prior to the legislation’s enactment. The court refuted SED’s claim, calling it “arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law.” The court further rejected SED’s argument that the schools cannot avail themselves of the new legislation because, by being non-equivalent, they are “non-schools,” and thus are ineligible to make a selection. This case may have long-term implications if, in the future, any school is declared non-equivalent. Based on this ruling, a school can still choose to avail itself of a pathway. The “non-school” argument was soundly defeated. The Agudah congratulated Steven Barshov, Esq., of Barshov Law PLLC, who represented the yeshivas and parents in this case.

Today, the IDF targeted a multi-story building in Gaza City that was being utilized by Hamas.

Inside the building, the terror group had set up facilities designed to help them plan and launch operations against Israeli soldiers in the vicinity.

Beneath the tower, Hamas had created an underground system that served as a base for organizing assaults on IDF units. This subterranean network was also used to stage ambushes and provided escape routes for its fighters.

Before carrying out the strike, the IDF implemented multiple safety precautions to minimize civilian casualties. These included advance warnings to residents, carefully chosen precision weaponry, drone monitoring, and additional intelligence measures.

The terror factions operating in Gaza consistently breach international law, cynically turning civilian areas and the local population into protective shields for their violent actions.

The IDF stressed that it will persist in its mission to confront and dismantle the terrorist groups entrenched in the Gaza Strip.

{Matzav.com}

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed grief over Israeli hostages in four different languages following reports that PM Bibi Netanyahu blocked his visit to Israel.

Former President Joe Biden, 82, was spotted in Delaware with bandages on his forehead following recent Mohs surgery to remove skin cancer lesions, a procedure he also had on his chest last year.

HASSETT: All of the job creation in the U.S. has come from native-born workers, whereas in the Biden admin, half was foreign-born… if the supply of new illegal immigrants goes to zero, as it has, then there won’t be non native-born workers taking jobs from native-born workers.

70 wanted individuals were detained and several assault weapons seized in the last week during counterterrorism operations in Judea and Samaria.

ICE has completed the biggest operation in DHS history, arresting more than 450 criminal alien workers at a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia.

Some 475 people were detained during an immigration raid at a sprawling Georgia site where South Korean auto company Hyundai manufactures electric vehicles, according to a Homeland Security official. Steven Schrank, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, said at a news briefing Friday that the majority of the people detained were from South Korea. “This operation underscores our commitment to jobs for Georgians and Americans,” Schrank said. “This was in fact the largest single site enforcement operation in the history of Homeland Security Investigations.” The investigation has been ongoing for several months, with authorities receiving leads from community members and former workers, he said. South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lee Jaewoong described the number of detained South Koreans as “large” though he did not provide an exact figure. He said the detained workers were part of a “network of subcontractors,” and that the employees worked for a variety of different companies on the site. Thursday’s raid targeted one of Georgia’s largest and most high-profile manufacturing sites, touted by Gov. Brian Kemp and other officials as the largest economic development project in the state’s history. Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea’s biggest automaker, began manufacturing EVs a year ago at the $7.6 billion plant, which employs about 1,200 people, and has partnered with LG Energy Solution to build an adjacent battery plant, slated to open next year. In a statement to The Associated Press, LG said it was “closely monitoring the situation and gathering all relevant details.” It said it couldn’t immediately confirm how many of its employees or Hyundai workers had been detained. “Our top priority is always ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees and partners. We will fully cooperate with the relevant authorities,” the company said. Hyundai’s South Korean office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. ICE spokesman Lindsay Williams confirmed that federal authorities conducted an enforcement operation at the 3,000-acre (1,214-hectare) site west of Savannah, Georgia. He said agents were focused on the construction site for the battery plant. In a televised statement, Lee said the ministry is taking active measures to address the case, dispatching diplomats from its embassy in Washington and consulate in Atlanta to the site, and planning to form an on-site response team centered on the local mission. “The business activities of our investors and the rights of our nationals must not be unjustly infringed in the process of U.S. law enforcement,” Lee said. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that agents executed a search warrant “as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes.” President Donald Trump’s administration has undertaken sweeping ICE operations as part of a mass deportation agenda. Immigration officers have raided farms, construction sites, restaurants and auto repair shops. The Pew Research Center, citing preliminary Census Bureau data, says the U.S. labor force lost more than 1.2 million immigrants from January through July. That includes people who are in the country illegally as well as legal residents. Hyundai and LG’s battery joint venture, HL-GA Battery Company, said in a statement that it’s “cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities” and paused construction of the battery site to assist their work. Operations at Hyundai’s EV manufacturing plant weren’t interrupted, said plant spokesperson Bianca Johnson. The Georgia plant […]

President Trump this morning took aim at longtime Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler, celebrating the veteran lawmaker’s decision to retire and blasting him as “one of the most disgusting Congressmen in USA History.”

Trump’s remarks came shortly after Nadler announced he would not be running again for Congress, ending more than three decades as Manhattan’s representative in Washington.

“Jerry Nadler, one of the most disgusting Congressmen in USA History is, at long last, calling it ‘quits’,” Trump declared in a Truth Social message early Friday morning.

“He’s finally leaving Congress! I’ve been beating this bum for 40 years, first as a New York City developer, where he opposed me, for no reason, at every corner, but could NEVER stop me from getting the job done, and then, as your President.”

The president also branded Nadler a “psychopathic nut job,” pointing to his role in spearheading impeachment proceedings against him on two separate occasions.

“It will be a great day for the U.S.A. when Nadler, a pathetic lightweight, is out of office and leaves our beautiful, and NOW VERY SAFE, Washington, D.C.,” Trump wrote.

Nadler, now in his 17th term, explained that his decision stemmed from the need for a “generational change.” He hinted that President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline over the past year reinforced his choice to step aside.

“Watching the Biden thing really said something about the necessity for generational change in the party and I think I want to respect that,” Nadler told the New York Times.

He went on to add that a younger member of his party taking over his seat “can maybe do better, can maybe help us more.”

{Matzav.com}

The United States has ordered the deployment of 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico in a new escalation against drug cartels, The NY Post reported Friday, citing sources. The move follows a deadly U.S. strike earlier this week that killed nearly a dozen Venezuelan narco-terrorists.

According to a source close to the Trump administration, the advanced aircraft are expected to touch down in Puerto Rico next week, adding significantly to the U.S. military’s footprint in the southern Caribbean.

The decision to send the jets is part of President Trump’s pledge to take aggressive action against groups the U.S. has formally labeled as narco-terrorist organizations.

In recent weeks, American forces have already stationed naval vessels in the region as part of this expanded operation.

The latest announcement comes just after Trump disclosed that U.S. forces had taken out 11 individuals aboard a “drug-carrying boat” near Venezuela’s coastline.

Trump stressed that those killed were linked to Tren de Aragua, the powerful Venezuelan gang that has spread its influence far beyond the country’s borders.

“TDA is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of [Venezuelan President] Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, … trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere,” Trump declared in a Truth Social post shortly after the strike.

“The strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in International waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to the United States. The strike resulted in 11 terrorists killed in action. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike. Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!” he added.

{Matzav.com}

The attorneys general of California and Delaware on Friday warned OpenAI they have “serious concerns” about the safety of its flagship chatbot, ChatGPT, especially for children and teens. The two state officials, who have unique powers to regulate nonprofits such as OpenAI, sent the letter to the company after a meeting with its legal team earlier this week in Wilmington, Delaware. California AG Rob Bonta and Delaware AG Kathleen Jennings have spent months reviewing OpenAI’s plans to restructure its business, with an eye on “ensuring rigorous and robust oversight of OpenAI’s safety mission.” But they said they were concerned by “deeply troubling reports of dangerous interactions between” chatbots and their users, including the “heartbreaking death by suicide of one young Californian after he had prolonged interactions with an OpenAI chatbot, as well as a similarly disturbing murder-suicide in Connecticut. Whatever safeguards were in place did not work.” The parents of the 16-year-old boy, who died in April, sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, last month. OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. Founded as a nonprofit with a safety-focused mission to build better-than-human artificial intelligence, OpenAI had recently sought to transfer more control to its for-profit arm from its nonprofit before dropping those plans in May after discussions with the offices of Bonta and Jennings and other nonprofit groups. The two elected officials, both Democrats, have oversight of any such changes because OpenAI is incorporated in Delaware and operates out of California, where it has its headquarters in San Francisco. After dropping its initial plans, OpenAI has been seeking the officials’ approval for a “recapitalization,” in which the nonprofit’s existing for-profit arm will convert into a public benefit corporation that has to consider the interests of both shareholders and the mission. Bonta and Jennings wrote Friday of their “shared view” that OpenAI and the industry need better safety measures. “The recent deaths are unacceptable,” they wrote. “They have rightly shaken the American public’s confidence in OpenAI and this industry. OpenAI – and the AI industry – must proactively and transparently ensure AI’s safe deployment. Doing so is mandated by OpenAI’s charitable mission, and will be required and enforced by our respective offices.” The letter to OpenAI from the California and Delaware officials comes after a bipartisan group of 44 attorneys general warned the company and other tech firms — including Meta and Google — last week of “grave concerns” about the safety of children interacting with AI chatbots that can respond with “… suggestive conversations and emotionally manipulative behavior.” The attorney generals specifically called out Meta for chatbots that reportedly engaged in inappropriate conversations with children, saying they were alarmed that that these chatbots “are engaging in conduct that appears to be prohibited by our respective criminal laws.” They said the companies would be held accountable for harming children, noting that in the past, regulators had not moved swiftly to respond to the harms posed by new technologies. “If you knowingly harm kids, you will answer for it,” the Aug. 25 letter ends. (AP)

Hamas on Friday posted a video on its Telegram channel showing hostage Guy Gilboa-Dalal, where he is seen embracing fellow captive Alon Ohel.

“Time is running out,” Hamas wrote alongside the footage.

In the clip, Gilboa-Dalal expressed disbelief that he was still alive after nearly two years of conflict and revealed that he was being held in Gaza City.

He added that he and the other hostages would remain in Gaza City during the next stage of the IDF’s military campaign, and that Hamas would move them wherever Israeli forces advance.

Earlier this week, Channel 12 reported that Abu Obeida, the late Hamas military spokesman, had intended to use psychological warfare centered around the hostages in an effort to deter Israel’s entry into Gaza City.

The newly released video also includes Gilboa-Dalal noting the date as August 28, suggesting it may have been recorded just before Obeida’s death.

On Friday morning, the Hostages’ Families Headquarters issued a fierce statement charging that the IDF has no clear knowledge of where the captives are being held, warning that the current Gaza offensive could result in their “murder and disappearance forever in the ruins of the Strip.”

“This action poses an immediate and direct danger to our loved ones who have been languishing in Hamas’s tunnels for 700 days. Sadly, we have not heard of any way to protect them, nor has any plan been presented to us that would ensure that Operation Gideon’s Chariots B will not turn into ‘Murder of the Six part two,’” the statement said, referring to the discovery of six hostages’ bodies — Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Carmel Gat, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Ori Danino — in Rafah tunnels.

The statement continued: “Forty-eight of our loved ones are at risk of being murdered and disappearing forever in the ruins of Gaza.” The families blasted the IDF chief of staff for choosing “to cooperate with a needless war” while claiming that even he acknowledges there are ways to achieve goals without putting both hostages and soldiers in harm’s way.

The group further underscored: “What did not work in Gideon’s Chariots A will not work in Part B or in Part C,” insisting that a viable proposal already exists, referring to the plan advanced by US envoy Steve Witkoff, which they believe could lead to a sweeping agreement to free all the hostages and halt the fighting.

“The sign of life published this morning is yet another painful reminder that Israel must return to negotiations to return the hostages and try to close a deal,” Opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on X/Twitter.

“We must do everything to bring them home. Sending strength to the families, you are not alone, we are with you.”

{Matzav.com Israel}

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