News Digest — 2/18/25
Hamas Expected To Return Bodies Of Several Hostages On Thursday
Jerusalem is preparing to receive the bodies of four or five hostages on Thursday (20th) who were murdered in captivity in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster reported on Monday (17th).
The ceasefire deal with the Palestinian terror group stipulates that the bodies of four hostages will be returned to the Jewish state on the 33rd day of the ceasefire, which went into effect January 19, an Israeli official told Walla News.
According to Kan News, Hamas is scheduled to hand over the names of the slain captives on Thursday morning (20th). Israeli military ambulances will collect the bodies at a meeting point, from where they will be brought to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in Tel Aviv for identification.
Officials involved in the preparations stressed that the hostages’ families will only be informed after the identification process is completed.
Meanwhile, Ynet reported on Monday night (17th) that Israel is demanding the freedom of six living hostages during the seventh release scheduled for Saturday (22nd). According to the deal, Hamas is required to release three captives.
In exchange for releasing the additional hostages, the Israeli government has signaled its willingness to allow the entry of hundreds of additional caravans into the Strip, the report claimed.
The three latest returnees from Hamas captivity in Gaza were reunited on Saturday (15th) with their families – American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36; Alexander (“Sasha”) Troufanov, 29; who has dual Russian-Israeli citizenship, and Argentina-Israeli national, Lair Horn, 46. Saturday’s (15th) release was the sixth such round under phase one of the ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s leadership and Israel’s coordination with the United States on Saturday (15th) highlighting that the reinforcement of IDF troops around Gaza and the US President’s firm stance led to the release of three hostages despite Hamas’ threats to delay the exchange.
Trump on Saturday (15th) congratulated the freed hostages but made clear that their release fell short of his calls to free all the captives.
“Hamas has just released three hostages from GAZA, including an American citizen. They seem to be in good shape! This differs from their [Hamas’] statement last week that they would not release any hostages,” he wrote on his Truth Social social media platform.
According to official estimates, 73 hostages remain in Hamas captivity in Gaza after 500 days, including 70 abducted during the Hamas led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Netanyahu: Neither Hamas Nor Palestinian Authority Will Govern Gaza
Neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority will control the Gaza Strip after the war ends, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday (17th) in response to a report which claimed Hamas would hand over Gaza to the PA,
“I’m committed to US President Donald Trump’s plan to create a different Gaza,” Netanyahu added. “It will not be.” the Prime Minister’s Spokesperson said of the report, reiterating a similar stance.
On Sunday night (16th), sources told Sky News Arabia that Hamas expressed that they would be ready to hand the Gaza Strip over to the Palestinian Authority.
The sources reportedly explained that Hamas said that any of their government employees would be “re-absorbed into the new administration or that they would retire, with a guarantee that their salaries be paid.”
The report further stated that Hamas’ alleged decision comes “after significant Egyptian pressure on the Hamas delegation that visited Cairo.”
The Prime Minister’s Office said Sunday (16th) that Israel would be sending a working group delegation to Cairo on Monday (17th) to hold talks on the Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal.
The delegation is headed by the Coordinator for Hostages and the Missing, BG. Gal Hirsch and “M” a Shin Bet ( Israel Security Agent) official.
The team will discuss the implementation of the hostage deal’s first phase, in which six remaining living hostages are predicted to be released.
Senior Hamas Terrorist Killed In Southern Lebanon, IDF Confirms
Muhammad Shaheen, a senior Hamas official, was killed in a drone strike on a vehicle near Sidon, southern Lebanon, on Monday (17th), an Israeli official confirmed to The Jerusalem Post.
The strike was carried out in a joint IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) operation and guided by the Intelligence Directorate and Northern Command intelligence information.
Shaheen was Hamas’ head of operation within Lebanon. In his role, he tried to plan terror operations against Israeli citizens, whether within Israeli territory or during international travels.
In addition, the IDF said Shaheen was deeply involved in directing rocket attacks against Israel.
The IDF said that Shaheen also received funding directly from Iran to carry out these terror operations.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) released a statement condemning the killing of Shaheen, calling it a “treacherous and cowardly assassination.”
“The killing reflects the aggressive and criminal nature of the leaders of the occupying entity, and marks a dangerous escalation aimed at sowing confusion,” the statement read.”
“We affirm that the martyrdom of the leaders of the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine will only increase the cohesion, steadfastness and adherence of the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples to resist the occupation and thwart all its criminal goals.”
Israel To Stay In Syrian Buffer Zone, 5 Key Positions On Lebanese Border, With US Support – Yonah Jeremy Bob
The US will support Israel in maintaining, for an extended period, the buffer zone it created in Syria in December, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Israel also understands that President Trump would like to withdraw the remaining American forces in Syria.
Sources were also adamant that the IDF will maintain a presence in five key defensive positions on the Israel-Lebanon border even after the deadline of February 18, when they were supposed to withdraw from south Lebanon. They said that both the Lebanese government and the US have agreed to such an arrangement over Hezbollah’s objections.
Sources added that the military will initiate new attacks anytime Hezbollah fighters return to southern Lebanon in violation of the ceasefire. For example, IDF drones may detect Hezbollah fighters, dressed as civilians, opening up a hiding spot where weapons are concealed, and could then fire on them without setting foot in Lebanon. Based on reports that some Lebanese military officials are working with Hezbollah, the IDF will not solely rely on the Lebanese Army any longer.
Israel: Egypt Building Bases In Sinai For Offensive Operations – Jacob Magid
“Egypt is in very serious violation of our peace agreement in the Sinai. This is an issue that is going to come to the fore because it’s not tolerable,” Israel Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter told a Zoom briefing with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on January 28. “Egypt has bases being built that can only be used for offensive operations, for offensive weapons, that’s a clear violation. For a long time, it’s been shunted aside, and this continues. This is going to be an issue that we’re going to put on the table very soon and very emphatically.” Video footage from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in recent weeks shows a massive build-up of troops and tanks.
Leiter also said, “We have to start talking about Qatar. The game that they’re playing – buying everybody out and quietly supporting and tolerating terror – this is not tenable. We have to call their bluff and say… ‘You’re also supporting terror organizations.’… The first thing they have to do is to speak the truth about their financial power… It was difficult [to criticize Qatar till now] because Qatar played a role in the release of the hostages… We had to – in very undiplomatic language – suck it up. Nevertheless, we’re going to start talking about the truth behind the role Qatar and Turkey are playing.”
Leiter said Turkey has become “verbally belligerent” toward Israel and has allowed “Hamas leaders and other Muslim Brotherhood contingents to operate from Turkish territory.” He also accused Ankara of funding organizations that have sought to exacerbate tensions on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
The Moral Bankruptcy And Hypocrisy Of The International Red Cross – Amb. Alan Baker (Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs)
• The 1986 foundational Statutes of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) proclaim that it is “a worldwide humanitarian movement, whose mission is to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found, to protect life and health and ensure respect for the human being, in particular in times of armed conflict.”
• For an organization whose sole purpose and mission is to help victims of wars and human and human rights violations, it is patently obvious that the ICRChas totally failed in its mission, as reflected in its mishandling of Israel’s hostage crisis.
• The ICRC failed in its most basic responsibilities to the more than 250 kidnap victims from some 20 nations taken hostage as part of Hamas’ egregious invasion, mass murder, and rape. Moral and legal responsibility lies chiefly with the Swiss government under whose auspices the ICRC functions, together with the state’s parties to the Geneva Conventions who finance its very existence and are in the position to monitor, direct, and influence the ICRC’s functioning.
• Why have they not impressed upon these elements influencing Hamas – chiefly Qatar, Egypt, the UN, and other Arab elements – that Israeli victims of terror and kidnapping are entitled to humane treatment?
• How is it conceivable that the Swiss government and the ICRC have sat idly for more than 16 months while being openly manipulated and abused by the Hamas terror organization? Rather, they have passively accepted Hamas’ refusal to allow the transfer of medications, and medical and humanitarian visits, to the sick and wounded and all illegally-held hostages.
• Moreover, it challenges all semblance of logic and moral clarity that the ICRC can countenance images of armed, masked terrorists standing on ICRC vehicles displaying the Red Cross emblem and flag while such vehicles transport tortured, suffering, and ill Israeli hostages – and its representatives participating in “release ceremonies” with terrorist leaders.
The writer, Director of the Institute for Diplomatic Affairs at the Jerusalem Center, served as Legal Adviser and Deputy Director-General of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
(jcpa.org)
Berlin Jewish Community Hides Identity Over Fears Of Anti-Semitism
Members of the Jewish community in Germany are starting to feel the need to hide their Jewish identities in public, German news outlet Bild reported on Friday (14th).
Fearing anti-Semitic attacks, Berlin’s Jewish community now feels the need to take extra security measures, one being that they won’t be submitting the full names of children who are celebrating their upcoming bar or bat mitzvahs in the local paper, a tradition that has been passed down for decades.
“Dear community members, due to the current anti-Israel and anti-Jewish incidents, we are currently only printing the names of our birthday and Bar/Bat Mitzvah children with abbreviated surnames in order not to potentially put anyone in danger,” the local paper wrote on its congratulations page.
The spokesman for the Jewish community in Berlin, Ilan Kiesling, told Bild that the decision to not submit the full names was made in November 2023, shortly after Hamas’ attack in Israel.
This threat to Jewish life seems to have reached a new dimension, not only in Berlin, which has led to great uncertainty among our community members,” Kiesling said.
The number of anti-Semitic incidents in Berlin in the first half of 2024 was higher than the whole total for 2023, according to a report published by Germany’s Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Anti-Semitism (RIAS).
From January to June, RIAS recorded 1,383 incidents of anti-Semitism in Berlin (about eight a day), which is a significant increase from 1,270 in 2023.
Among the 1,383 incidents, two were listed as cases of extreme violence and 23 as attacks, six of which were against children.
Thirty-seven were recorded as property damage, 28 as threats, and 1,240 as abusive behavior.
Seventy-four of the incidents took place in academic institutions.
Seventy-one incidents contained threats of annihilation.
In both cases of extreme violence and attacks, Jews living in Berlin were inflicted with serious bodily harm.
