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Israeli forces on Shabbos morning rescued four hostages from two separate locations in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip.

During a complex IDF/Border Police/Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) daytime operation in the heart of a crowded residential neighborhood, the forces recovered from Hamas captivity Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40.

A fighter from the Border Police’s Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit was mortally wounded during the rescue mission.

Ch. Insp. Arnon Zamora was rushed to the hospital and shortly thereafter was pronounced dead.

The four hostages were all abducted by Hamas terrorists from the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im during the Oct. 7 massacre.

Argamani, a student at the Information Systems Engineering Department at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva, was five days short of her 26th birthday when she was kidnapped. She was being kept in a different location in the Nuseirat camp, hundreds of yards from where the three male hostages were held.

The freed captives are in good medical condition and being monitored at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan’s Tel Hashomer neighborhood.

“The entire nation salutes the brave fighters who risked their lives today to save lives. Once again, you have proven that Israel does not surrender to terrorism and acts with creativity and courage that knows no bounds to bring home the hostages,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

“We are committed to doing so in the future as well. We will not let up until we complete the mission and return all of the hostages home— both the living and the dead,” he added.

Netanyahu also released a video of a phone conversation between him and Argamani.

“How do you feel?” asked the premier.

“I’m very excited,” replied Argamani. “I haven’t spoken Hebrew in such a long time.”

Added Netanyahu: “We did not give up on you for even one moment. I don’t know if you believed it, but we did and I’m happy that it’s become a reality.”

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he was “overjoyed” to have the hostages home, adding that the military would “keep fighting” until every captive is returned.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said, “Noa, Shlomi, Almog and Andrey: We waited for you, and we are still waiting for everyone. Everyone.”

He expressed appreciation to the security forces for the “bold and brave” operation, calling it “a great light in the terrible darkness.”

Israeli authorities also released footage of Argamani, who has become one of the most recognizable Israeli hostages, reuniting with her father after eight months in Hamas captivity.

Noa’s mother, Liora, is hospitalized at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center’s Ichilov Hospital with terminal brain cancer. Noa was reunited with Liora at the Tel Aviv hospital on Saturday evening.

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum released a statement praising the “heroic operation” to recover the four captives, describing the development as a “miraculous triumph.”

“Now, with the joy that is washing over Israel, the Israeli government must remember its commitment to bring back all 120 hostages still held by Hamas—the living for rehabilitation, the murdered for burial,” said the forum.

“We continue to call upon the international community to apply the necessary pressure on Hamas to accept the proposed deal and release the other 120 hostages held in captivity; every day there is a day too much,” it added.

Shortly after the news broke, footage of a lifeguard in Tel Aviv sharing the development amid rapturous applause from bathers went viral.

On Monday, the IDF announced that four Israeli men who were taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 died in captivity in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

“IDF officials informed the families of Haim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper and Nadav Popplewell, who were brutally abducted to the Gaza Strip, that they are no longer alive and their bodies are being held by the Hamas terrorist organization,” the military said.

Earlier on Monday, the IDF announced that the corpse of Dolev Yehud, an Israeli paramedic murdered by Hamas terrorists during the assault on Kibbutz Nir Oz, had been located inside the kibbutz grounds.

Last month, Israeli forces recovered the bodies of captives Shani Louk, 22, Amit Bouskila, 28, Ron Benjamin, 53, and Itzhak Gelerenter, 56, during an overnight operation in Rafah in southern Gaza.

Also in May, Lior Rudaeff was declared dead exactly seven months after he was presumed to have been abducted by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 invasion.

Days earlier, two more Israeli victims were declared dead—Elyakim Libman, 23, a security guard at the Supernova music festival presumed to have been taken hostage but whose body was found in Israeli territory, and Dror Or, 49, who was kidnapped to Gaza from Kibbutz Be’eri.

In February, Israeli forces freed hostages Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Norberto Louis Har, 70, during an overnight raid in Rafah. The pair were kidnapped to Gaza while visiting Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on Oct. 7.

In late October, Pvt. Ori Megidish was freed by Israeli forces during a raid in the Gaza Strip after being kidnapped from the IDF’s Nahal Oz Base on Oct. 7.

{Matzav.com}

William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic “Earthrise” photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90. His son, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Greg Anders, confirmed the death to The Associated Press. “The family is devastated,” he said. “He was a great pilot and we will miss him terribly.” BREAKING: Former astronaut William Anders who took iconic Earthrise photo has died in Washington plane crash – AP pic.twitter.com/g5grzM1Jdx — Breaking911 (@Breaking911) June 8, 2024 William Anders, a retired major general, has said the photo was his most significant contribution to the space program along with making sure the Apollo 8 command module and service module worked. The photograph, the first color image of Earth from space, is one of the most important photos in modern history for the way it changed how humans viewed the planet. The photo is credited with sparking the global environmental movement for showing how delicate and isolated Earth appeared from space. NASA Administrator and former Sen. Bill Nelson said Anders embodied the lessons and the purpose of exploration. “He traveled to the threshold of the Moon and helped all of us see something else: ourselves,” Nelson wrote on the social platform X. Anders snapped the photo during the crew’s fourth orbit of the moon, frantically switching from black-and-white to color film. “Oh my God, look at that picture over there!” Anders said. “There’s the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!” The Apollo 8 mission in December 1968 was the first human spaceflight to leave low-Earth orbit and travel to the moon and back. It was NASA’s boldest and perhaps most dangerous voyage yet and one that set the stage for the Apollo moon landing seven months later. “Bill Anders forever changed our perspective of our planet and ourselves with his famous Earthrise photo on Apollo 8,” Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who is also a retired NASA astronaut, wrote on X. “He inspired me and generations of astronauts and explorers. My thoughts are with his family and friends.” A report came in around 11:40 a.m. that an older-model plane crashed into the water and sank near the north end of Jones Island, San Juan County Sheriff Eric Peter said. Greg Anders confirmed to KING-TV that his father’s body was recovered Friday afternoon. Only the pilot was on board the Beech A45 airplane at the time, according to the Federal Aviation Association. The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA are investigating the crash. William Anders said in an 1997 NASA oral history interview that he didn’t think the Apollo 8 mission was risk-free but there were important national, patriotic and exploration reasons for going ahead. He estimated there was about a one in three chance that the crew wouldn’t make it back and the same chance the mission would be a success and the same chance that the mission wouldn’t start to begin with. He said he suspected Christopher Columbus sailed with worse odds. He recounted how Earth looked fragile and seemingly physically insignificant, yet was home. “We’d been going backwards and upside down, didn’t really see the Earth or the Sun, […]

Eleven Yemeni employees of United Nations agencies have been detained by Yemen’s Houthi rebels under unclear circumstances, authorities said Friday, as the rebels face increasing financial pressure and airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition. Others working for aid groups also have been taken. The detentions come as the Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital nearly a decade ago and have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition since shortly after, have been targeting shipping throughout the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. But while gaining more attention internationally, the secretive group has cracked down at dissent at home, including recently sentencing 44 people to death. U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric in New York acknowledged 11 U.N. staffers had been taken. “We are very concerned about these developments, and we’re actively seeking clarification from the Houthi de facto authorities regarding the circumstances of these detentions and most importantly, to ensure the immediate access to those U.N. personnel,” he told journalists. “So I can further tell you that we’re pursuing all available channels to secure the safe and unconditional release of all of them as rapidly as possible.” Of the 11, the U.N. said nine are men and two are women. Six worked for the U.N.’s human rights agency, while one apiece worked for its special envoy’s office, its development arm, UNICEF, the World Food Program and UNESCO. The Mayyun Organization for Human Rights, which also reported U.N. staffers were held, named other aid groups whose employees were detained by the Houthis across four provinces that the Houthis hold — Amran, Hodeida, Saada and Saana. “We condemn in the strongest terms this dangerous escalation, which constitutes a violation of the privileges and immunities of United Nations employees granted to them under international law, and we consider it to be oppressive, totalitarian, blackmailing practices to obtain political and economic gains,” the organization said in a statement. Save the Children, told the AP that it was “concerned of the whereabouts of one of our staff members in Yemen and doing everything we can to ensure his safety and well-being.” The group declined to elaborate. CARE International also said one of its staffers had been detained without being given a reason. “We are concerned about our colleague’s safety and are working to get more information in the coming hours and days,” said Sulafah al-Shami, a CARE spokeswoman. “Until then, we have extended our support to the family and share their hope for his speedy release.” Other groups also are believed to have staff who were taken as well, though they did not acknowledge it publicly. Activists, lawyers and others also began an open online letter, calling on the Houthis to immediately release those detained, because if they don’t, it “helps isolate the country from the world.” Human Rights Watch, quoting family members of those detained, said that “Houthi authorities have not revealed the locations of the people they detained or allowed them to communicate with their employers or families.” “The Houthis should immediately release any U.N. employees and workers for other independent groups they have detained because of their human rights and humanitarian work and stop arbitrarily detaining and forcibly disappearing people,” Human Rights Watch researcher Niku Jafarnia said. Yemen’s Houthi rebels and their affiliated media organizations didn’t discuss the detentions, though military spokesman Brig. […]

Russia-installed officials in the partially-occupied Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Luhansk said Ukrainian attacks left at least 28 people dead as Russia and Ukraine continued to exchange drone attacks overnight into Saturday. A Ukrainian attack Friday on the small town of Sadove in the Kherson region killed 22 and wounded 15 people, Moscow-appointed governor Vladimir Saldo said. Russian state news agency Tass cited Saldo as saying that Ukrainian forces first struck the town with a French-made guided bomb, then attacked again with a U.S.-supplied HIMARS missile. He said Ukrainian forces had “deliberately made a repeat strike to create greater numbers of casualties” when “residents of nearby houses ran out to help the injured.” Officials declared Saturday a day of mourning in Luhansk, and public events will be similarly cancelled Sunday and Monday in Kherson. Further east, Leonid Pasechnik, the Russia-installed governor in Ukraine’s partially occupied Luhansk region, said Saturday that two more bodies had been pulled from the rubble following Friday’s Ukrainian missile attack on the regional capital, also called Luhansk. Russian state news agency Interfax cited regional authorities as saying this brought the death toll to six. Pasechnik also said 60 people were wounded in the attack. Ukraine did not comment on either assault. Meanwhile, drone attacks between Russia and Ukraine persisted. Ukraine launched a barrage of drones across Russian territory overnight Friday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday. Twenty-five drones were reportedly destroyed over Russia’s southern Kuban and Astrakhan regions, the western Tula region, and the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula. On Saturday morning, officials said air defenses for the first time shot down Ukrainian drones over the North Ossetia region in the North Caucasus, some 900 km (560 miles) east of the front line in Ukraine’s partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that one drone had been destroyed, whereas regional Gov. Sergei Menyailo reported three downed drones over the region. Menyailo said that the target was a military airfield. Ukrainian air defense overnight shot down nine out of 13 Russian drones over the central Poltava region, southeastern Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, and the Kharkiv region in the northeast, Ukraine’s air force said Saturday. Dnipropetrovsk regional Gov. Serhiy Lysak said the overnight drone attack damaged commercial and residential buildings. Later on Saturday, a Ukrainian military spokesman said Ukraine now controlled more than half of the town of Vovchansk, a flashpoint for fighting since Russia launched a renewed offensive in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region last month. “Most of the city is under the control of the defense forces,” Nazar Voloshin, spokesman for the Khortytsia ground forces formation, said on Ukrainian state TV. It wasn’t immediately possible to independently confirm the claim. Russia’s Kharkiv push appears to be a coordinated new offensive that includes testing Ukrainian defenses in the Donetsk region further south, while also launching incursions in the northern Sumy and Chernihiv regions. Also on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said there was an attempt on the life of the ex-mayor of Kupiansk, a city in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, on Friday. The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said Hennadiy Matsehora was in “critical condition” after he was attacked in Russia’s Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine. Officials said he “voluntarily agreed to full cooperation” when Russian troops invaded and in June 2022 “signed the so-called protocol for the creation […]

North Korea resumed flying balloons on Saturday in a likely attempt to drop trash on South Korea again, South Korea’s military said, two days after Seoul activists floated their own balloons to scatter propaganda leaflets in the North. Animosities between the two Koreas have risen recently because North Korea launched hundreds of balloons carrying manure and trash toward South Korea in protest of previous South Korean civilian leafletting campaigns. In response, South Korea suspended a tension-easing agreement with North Korea to restore front-line military activities. Saturday’s balloon launches by North Korea were the third of their kind since May 28. It wasn’t immediately known if any of of the North Korean balloons had landed on South Korean territory across the rivals’ tense border. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that North Korean balloons likely carrying trash were moving in an eastward direction but they could eventually fly toward the south because the wind direction was forecast to change later. The Joint Chiefs of Staff advised the public to beware of falling objects and not to touch balloons found on the ground but report them to police or military authorities. After the North’s two rounds of balloon activities, South Korean authorities discovered about 1,000 balloons which were tied to vinyl bags containing manure, cigarette butts, scraps of cloth, waste batteries and waste papers. Some were popped and scattered on roads, residential areas and schools. No highly dangerous materials were found and no major damage has been reported. The North’s vice defense minister, Kim Kang Il, later said his country would stop the balloon campaign but threatened to resume it if South Korean activists sent leaflets again. In defiance of the warning, a South Korean civilian group led by North Korean defector Park Sang-hak, said it launched 10 balloons from a border town on Thursday carrying 200,000 anti-North Korean leaflets, USB sticks with K-pop songs and South Korean dramas, and $1 U.S. bills. South Korean media reported another activist group also flew balloons with 200,000 propaganda leaflets toward North Korea on Friday. South Korean officials called the North Korean trash balloon launches and other recent provocations as “absurd, irrational” and vowed strong retaliation. South Korea’s suspension of the 2018 military agreement with North Korea would allow it to restart live-fire military drills and anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts at border areas, actions that are certain to anger North Korea and prompt it to take its own retaliatory military steps. North Korea is extremely sensitive to South Korean civilian leafletting campaigns and front-line propaganda broadcasts as it forbids access to foreign news for most of its 26 million people. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is a third generation of his family to rule North Korea with an iron fist since 1948. Experts say North Korea’s balloon campaign is also meant to cause a divide in South Korea over its conservative government’s tough approach on North Korea. Liberal lawmakers, some civic groups and front-line residents in South Korea have called on the government to urge leafleting activists to stop flying balloons to avoid unnecessary clashes with North Korea. But government officials haven’t made such an appeal in line with last year’s constitutional court ruling that struck down a law criminalizing an anti-North Korea leafletting as a violation of free speech. (AP)

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As you prepare for your Kabbolas HaTorah, embrace the zechus of helping all of Klal Yisroel be Mekabel the Torah as well.                                                               

Since October 7th, many non-religious families have been registering their children in a Shuvu school in Eretz Yisroel to learn about Torah and Mitzvos.         

In fact, close to 6,000 children are registered to learn Torah in a Shuvu school next year! Yet, 400 of those children may be turned away for lack of funds. Their families are asking Shuvu to take them in so they too can learn Torah – but we lack the funding to do so! Please go to shuvuusa.org/donate to help us take in these children.

With the haskamos of Harav Reuven Feinstein shlita and Harav Elya Brudny shlita, we ask that you please help this desperate situation. Head into Shavuos showing HKB’H  that you are thinking of Kabbolas HaTorah for ALL of Klal Yisroel, including these 400 children from non-religious homes, so desperate to grow in Yiddishkeit. Thank you in advance and a great Yom Tov.

Shuvuusa.org/donate

Hagaon Harav Avrohom Yitzchok Shuchatovitz Shlit”a from the world-famous Kollel Shishi in Yerushalayim will be delivering full-time Shiurim throughout the week. Over the past few years  Rav Shachatovitz Shlit”a, who is known for his fascinating Iyun shiurim has attracted hundreds of bochurim from the leading Yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel to his Kollel Shishi. He will now be giving Shiur full time to bochurim coming to learn in Eretz Yisroel. The Shiurim will take place in Yeshivas Noam Hatorah Yerushalayim.

Yamam Commander Arnon Zamora, H”yd, 36, heroically led Israeli forces in one of the most daring rescue operations in IDF history and tragically paid with his life. After he retrieved the hostages, he was critically wounded when dozens of terrorists opened fire on the Israeli forces with RPGs, machine guns and rifles. He was evacuated to a hospital in Israel where his death was pronounced. Zamora also saved countless lives on October 7th when he led the battle against Hamas terrorists near the southern community of Yad Mordechai. He killed dozens of terrorists and prevented them from infiltrating the kibbutz. When the battle at Yad Mordechai ended, he continued battling terrorists at the Nachal Oz and Be’eeri kibbutzim The rescue operation has been renamed Operation Arnon in his honor. He left behind a wife and two children. (YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)

The rescue operation of four live hostages from Gaza,  initially dubbed by the IDF as Operation “Summer Seeds,” was one of the most complex and daring rescue operations in Israeli history. Following the tragic death of Yamam commander Arnon Zamora from injuries incurred during the operation, the IDF announced that the rescue operation had been renamed “Operation Arnon.” The operation was carried out by hundreds of Israeli security forces, including Israel Police’s “Yamam” counterterrorism officers, Shin Bet operatives, and IDF special forces soldiers. The planning for the operation took weeks of extensive intelligence gathering and meticulous planning. Military officials said that the models constructed by the police’s Yamam unit reminded them of the models used during the Entebbe Operation – intricate models of buildings, streets and training areas. The hostages were held by Hamas guards in the homes of “innocent” Gazan civilians – who were paid by Hamas – in the heart of a civilian area in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip in two separate locations. Noa Argamani was in an apartment on the first floor of a building and 400 meters away, the three male hostages were held on the third floor of another building. The Hamas terrorists frequently moved the four hostages from one apartment to another and therefore one of the main risks of the operation was that if the Israeli security forces raided one building, the terrorists would escape with the other hostages or even shoot and kill them. However, based on Air Force intelligence gathered in recent days, the IDF and Shin Bet formed a plan that allowed the forces to simultaneously storm both buildings. The Israeli forces invaded Nuseirat from several directions under heavy cover of Air Force bombardment and fire from Navy ships and drones. The operation heavily relied on the extensive use of fighter jets, attack helicopters and intelligence and attack drones. Two main rescue team disguised as Arabs first entered Nuseirat in a humanitarian aid truck and vehicle with Gazan license plates, as seen in the video below: The video below shows the beginning of the operation: The most difficult challenge arose when the security forces raided the apartment where the three male hostages were held. Yamam commander Arnon Zamora, H’yd, led the forces in breaking into the building. After they retrieved the hostages and began withdrawing from the area, dozens of terrorists armed with machine guns, AK-47 rifles, and RPGs ran through the alleys shooting at the forces [killing Gazan civilians in the densely populated area]. A shootout ensued, during which many terrorists were killed. At one point, the rescue vehicle carrying the three hostages got stuck while under heavy fire. Additional IDF forces and helicopters rushed to assist, firing dozens of explosives at the terrorists from the air, and hundreds of additional IDF troops rushed to the area on foot, in tanks, and in APCs while Navy ships fired from the west. It was an incredible neis that although Air Force helicopters struck terrorists only meters away from Israeli security forces, only a few soldiers suffered light shrapnel injuries. The terrorists fired several anti-aircraft missiles at the IDF helicopters in order to shoot them down – Baruch Hashem, unsuccessfully. The planning for the operation was carried out in almost total secrecy in order to preserve the element of […]

Four Israeli hostages were rescued from the Gaza Strip on Shabbos morning in a heroic operation carried out by IDF special forces, Border Police officers and Shin Bet operatives. The hostages were Almog Meir Jan, 21, Noa Argamani, 25, Andrez Kozolov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40. They all were abducted from the Nova music festival on October 7th. They were rescued from two separate areas in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip. The hostages were transferred to Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer, where they were reunited with their families. Baruch Hashem, they are all in good medical condition. Tragically, Border Police commander Arnon Zemora, H’yd, was seriously injured in the operation and his death was later pronounced at the hospital. Zamora, z’l, 36, left behind a wife and two children. IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a special statement: “They are all healthy, their medical condition is normal, and they are in the hospital where they will undergo medical tests and be reunited with their families. The four were rescued in a daring daylight rescue operation, during which IDF and Shin Bet fighters raided the heart of the Gaza Strip and rescued them under fire.” In the video below, President Herzog speaks with Noa Argamani: The videos below show Noa Argamani being evacuated from the Strip: The IDF’s video of the rescue: (YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)

US Central Command (CENTCOM) has successfully rebuilt a temporary pier in Gaza, enabling the resumption of humanitarian aid deliveries by sea. The pier’s reestablishment ensures the continued supply of essential aid to the people of Gaza, according to a CENTCOM statement. In the coming days, CENTCOM will facilitate the transportation of critical food and emergency supplies in support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The temporary pier, which cost $320 million to assemble, was damaged by bad weather last week, prompting a brief suspension of aid deliveries. The repairs reportedly cost $22 million – a waste of money all around. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

The United Nations has added Israel and Hamas to its annual “list of shame” for committing grave rights violations against children in armed conflict. This marks the first time a democratic country has been included on the list, which also features Russia, the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and other countries with notorious human rights records. The inclusion of Israel and Hamas in the annex of the Secretary-General’s report has sparked outrage from Israel, with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blasting the move. “Today the UN added itself to the black list of history when it joined those who support the Hamas murderers. The IDF is the most moral army in the world; no delusional UN decision will change that,” Netanyahu said. Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Permanent Representative to the UN, received the formal notification from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s chief of staff and condemned the decision. Erdan stated, “This immoral decision will only aid the terrorists and reward Hamas. The only one who is blacklisted today is the Secretary-General, whose decisions since the war started and even before are rewarding terrorists, incentivizing them to use children for terror acts.” Erdan warned that the decision would embolden Hamas to continue using schools and hospitals for military purposes, prolonging the war and suffering. “Shame on him,” Erdan declared, addressing the UN Secretary-General. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

In a precision airstrike Thursday night, Israeli Air Force fighter jets eliminated two senior Hamas terrorists in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip. The operation, guided by IDF intelligence, targeted Salame Muhammad Abu Ajaj, a leading figure in the Hamas General Security Forces, and Eiad Almaghari, the mayor of North Nuseirat and a seasoned terrorist operative. Abu Ajaj played a crucial role in supporting the Hamas Military Wing, ensuring the organization’s survival, and disrupting IDF operations in Gaza. His efforts focused on strengthening Hamas’s presence in the Rafah area. Almaghari, a veteran Hamas terrorist, had a history of involvement in planning terror attacks in the Judea and Samaria region. He previously served in the Hamas West Bank Headquarters and was known for his extensive experience in terrorist activities. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

U.S. troops and their Israeli counterparts reattached a floating pier to Gaza’s coastline Friday, as the United States prepares to resume a humanitarian operation bedeviled by setbacks thus far.

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, a senior U.S. military officer overseeing the mission, told reporters that deliveries of food and other supplies will begin again “in coming days” after the structure, having been ripped to pieces by powerful waves late last month, required extensive repairs. The first new shipments will include 500,000 pounds of aid, he said, with thousands of tons more in the pipeline behind it.

Rough seas remain a concern, but officials anticipate a better stretch for a couple of months.

“Weather has always been a factor in military operations,” Cooper said. “As we do around the world every day, we will adjust to the weather as required.”

Aid deliveries over the pier began May 16 under duress and behind schedule due to the bad weather. Sections of the steel pier were damaged May 25 by waves measuring upward of five feet. The mission was suspended days later when the structure broke apart.

U.S. troops transported its pieces to the nearby Israeli port of Ashdod, north of Gaza, and have spent more than a week reassembling it. The Pentagon assessed that the pier suffered at least $22 million in damage, defense officials said.

Cooper declined to specify what U.S. forces will do if rough seas again present a threat, saying obliquely that the units involved “have a series of contingency plans.” The floating pier is connected to land with a steel causeway. Such missions have had an enduring limitation of operating in seas that are no more than two to three feet high, according to several past assessment in U.S. military journals.

Days before the mission was halted, four U.S. Army vessels supporting the mission ran aground, and a separate accident at sea – which the Pentagon has yet to fully explain – left a U.S. service member badly injured. The service member remained in critical condition as of Friday at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, Cooper said.

About 1,000 tons of aid were delivered over the pier before the mission was paused.

Critics say President Biden’s embrace of this approach – and the challenges that go with it – underscore how he and his top advisers have failed to exert enough pressure on Israel to enable more aid deliveries by opening additional land crossings into Gaza.

Some Democrats in Congress, aghast at the death and suffering wrought by eight months of war, have urged Biden to take more aggressive measures – such as withholding U.S. arms transfers to the Israeli government – to force an end to the crisis.

Other critics have charged that the pier mission puts U.S. personnel at risk of attack by Hamas or other militant groups.

Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.), the Senate Armed Services Committee’s top Republican, said it is “astonishing that President Biden is doubling down on this bad idea.” The operation, he said in a statement Friday, “continues to put U.S. troops in harm’s way without any plan for ensuring that aid is delivered successfully to Gazans in need.”

“This irresponsible and expensive experiment defies all logic except the obvious political explanation: to appease the President’s far-left flank,” Wicker said. “This needs to end immediately.”

Cooper said Friday that a U.S. policy remains in effect prohibiting American personnel from operating in Gaza, and the protection of U.S. service members is a top priority. It was Israeli forces on the beach who reconnected the pier, and the aid is trucked over the structure by contract employees and distributed on land by United Nations’ local affiliate.

Administration officials have agreed that more land crossings need to be opened, but said they are pursuing every option available to help civilians caught in the crossfire, including the pier and airdrops by U.S. cargo planes.

“Why wouldn’t we try this?” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said last week. “If we had this capability, and it was available to us, we have the know-how and the expertise to do it, why would we leave that on the sidelines?”

The U.S. Agency for International Development, which has partnered on the project with the Pentagon, said in a statement late Thursday that it remains in close contact with colleagues from across the U.S. government and humanitarian partners to ensure aid deliveries can safely and effectively resume from the pier.

“Additionally, USAID continues to work with partners to get aid into and across Gaza through existing land routes,” the statement said. “We continue to push for crossings into Gaza to remain predictably, consistently functional at maximum capacity, and that internal access be improved so that aid can reach people in desperate need.”

(c) Washington Post

In a move that could potentially shake up Israel’s political landscape, War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz is set to announce his party’s withdrawal from the government on . Motzei Shabbos. The National Unity leader’s decision comes after he issued an ultimatum to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month, demanding a clear plan for the Gaza Strip after the war with Hamas. According to Gantz’s office, the press statement is scheduled for 8:40 p.m. tomorrow night, and is expected to confirm his party’s exit from the coalition. This would fulfill his ultimatum to Netanyahu, which called for a commitment to an agreed-upon vision for the Gaza conflict, including stipulating who would rule the territory once Hamas has been defeated. Hebrew media reports indicate that there have been no ongoing negotiations or efforts by coalition parties to address Gantz’s demands, and that the government has not accepted or seriously discussed his proposals. In a twist, the Kan public broadcaster reported on Thursday that the US government has tried to convince Gantz to delay his planned departure amid ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas in Gaza. However, it remains to be seen whether any last-minute surprises could change the course of events. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

On Friday, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit announced that, over the past day, the IDF Intelligence Directorate and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) confirmed the identities of eight more terrorists who were killed in the precise strike on their base inside an UNRWA school in Nuseirat on Thursday morning.

One of the identified and now eliminated terrorists took part in the October 7 attacks.

The IDF stated: “Since the targeted strike the IDF has confirmed the identity of 17 terrorists that were operating from the school. The investigation is ongoing,”.

Earlier on Thursday, IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari revealed the identities of nine Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who were killed in the IAF strike on the UNRWA school in Nuseirat. Hagari noted the terrorists were planning more attacks against Israelis and that the strike “stopped a ticking time-bomb.”

Hagari also emphasized the IDF took additional measures to avoid civilian casualties, stating: “We delayed our strike twice, because we identified civilians in the area. We had aerial surveillance that had been monitoring the Hamas compound for a few days. We conducted the strike once our intelligence and surveillance indicated that there were no women or children inside the Hamas compound, inside those classrooms. Despite the complex operational conditions, our Air Force used precise munitions to target the three specific classrooms that the terrorists were hiding inside.”

“Sadly, we saw some media outlets fall for Hamas’s tactics yet again, before checking the facts. While Hamas abuses international law, the IDF will continue operating according to international law. The systematic abuse of UN facilities is a war crime and it must be stopped by the world,” he added.

Hamas claimed that dozens of Gazans who were sheltering in the school after fleeing their homes were killed in the strike.

The IDF’s Arabic language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, exposed their claims, writing on social media:”The classrooms that were attacked were a shelter for ISIS, Hamas and Jihad. This liar has been spreading lies since the beginning of the war, fabricating massacres and covering up ISIS-Hamas crimes from October 7 until today.”

“A large number of terrorists, including elite members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, including those who participated in the massacre on October 7, lived in the classrooms inside the school compound in Nuseirat,” he concluded.

{Matzav.com}

Houthi terrorists are reportedly holding at least nine Yemen-based employees of the United Nations “under unclear circumstances,” the Associated Press reported on Friday, citing local authorities.

The Houthis “face increasing financial pressure and airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition,” per the AP. “Others working for aid groups also likely have been taken.”

Houthi terrorists have targeted ships in the Red Sea, claiming that they are responding to Israel’s war against the Hamas terror organization.

Per the AP, “regional officials” say that “staff from the U.N. human-rights agency, its development program, the World Food Program and one working for the office of its special envoy” are being held. “The wife of one of those held is also detained.”

The Mayyun Organization for Human Rights based in Aden, Yemen, condemned “in the strongest terms this dangerous escalation, which constitutes a violation of the privileges and immunities of United Nations employees granted to them under international law.”

The Aden-based group, which said that 18 people had been detained, added that “we consider it to be oppressive, totalitarian, blackmailing practices to obtain political and economic gains.”

The group said that international aid organization employees’ “homes were raided, they were interrogated inside and their mobile phones and computers were confiscated before they were taken aboard military vehicles to an unknown destination.”

{Matzav.com}

More than 3,500 Israelis gathered at Park HaAsor in Efrat on Thursday to celebrate the completion of a Sefer Torah in memory of 48-year-old Lucy Dee, and two of her daughters: Maia, 20, and Rina, 15. The girls were murdered by a Hamas terrorist on April 7, 2023, while their mother succumbed to her wounds three days later, on April 10.

Since the beginning of the year, youth at educational institutions in Efrat attended a Safrus workshop, with more than 5,000 children partaking in writing the Torah’s 304,805 letters.

In addition, Yehuda Elon, an Israel Defense Forces reservist and ritual scribe affiliated with the “Sign of Love” organization, took the new Sefer Torah into the Gaza Strip, where soldiers helped write letters, Arutz 7 reported.

“The Torah is a Torah of life,” Rabbi Leo Dee, Lucy’s husband and the father of the girls (the Dees have two other daughters and a son), told attendees at Thursday’s event. “Each letter in the Torah corresponds with an individual of the people of Israel, and if one [letter] is missing, the Torah scroll is invalid.”

“This is why we need absolute unity among our people. Am Yisrael chai!” added the bereaved husband and father.

In his speech, Efrat Mayor Dovi Shefler praised the Dee family for being a leading example of “how to grow out of a massive crisis.”

The new Torah scroll was placed in the town’s Orot Etzion Boys School, where Lucy Dee worked as an English teacher.

Lucy Dee, 48, and daughters Maia, 20, and Rina, 15, were ambushed last year as they traveled on Route 57 to Tiverya to celebrate the second half of Pesach with family from overseas. Maia and Rina were killed instantly, while their mother was hospitalized and died days later.

Following the murder, Leo inaugurated “Dees Day,” which people across the globe mark by sharing photos of themselves draped in Israeli flags on social media. In September, then-foreign minister Eli Cohen appointed Rabbi Dee as Israel’s special envoy for social initiatives.

{Matzav.com}