Free Republic

(DCNF)—The United Nations (UN) World Food Program (WFP) said Sunday it was suspending aid deliveries from the Biden administration’s floating pier in Gaza. The WFP cited safety concerns on the ground in Gaza as the reason it was halting deliveries from the pier, the Associated Press reported. The pier had only been operational for roughly two days before the WFP announced its decision, after weather damage broke it apart and temporarily took it out of commission. “Right now we’re paused,” Cindy McCain, director of the WFP, told CBS on Sunday, according to the AP. “I’m concerned about the safety of...

The four hostages who were rescued on Saturday from Gaza are in a worse physical and psychological state than initially believed, according to Hebrew media reports on Sunday. Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan, and Andrey Kozlov were found to be malnourished during initial medical tests at Sheba Medical Center on Saturday, but the mental influence of their captivity had yet to be established. The Kan public broadcaster reported Sunday evening that after initial conversations with the four, medical professionals believed they were exhibiting signs of Stockholm syndrome, as the rescued hostages spoke about awful experiences they had been...

European Union High Representative Josep Borrell called the hostage rescue operation carried out by Israeli security forces on Saturday morning "appalling" in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The operation, carried out jointly by the IDF, Shin Bet and Border Police's National Counterterrorism unit Yamam, successfully rescued four hostages: Noa Argamani, Shlomi Ziv, Almog Meir Jan, and Andrey Kozlov. According to Palestinian officials, over 200 Palestinians were killed during the IDF operation.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is arriving in Israel and the Middle East Monday just after Benny Gantz, an opposition leader who is the main rival to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has left the government. It is a curious coincidence that, right-wing critics say, points to cooperation between Gantz and President Joe Biden’s administration in attempting to bring down the Netanyahu government and find a replacement in the midst of a war. The Biden administration is suspected of backing a “color revolution” — an attempt to use pressure from opposition parties, civil society, and the media to force...

WASHINGTON — Biden administration officials have discussed potentially negotiating a unilateral deal with Hamas to secure the release of five Americans being held hostage in Gaza if current cease-fire talks involving Israel fail, according to two current senior U.S. officials and two former senior U.S. officials. Such negotiations would not include Israel and would be conducted through Qatari interlocutors, as current talks have been, said the officials, all of whom have been briefed on the discussions. The officials did not know what the United States might give Hamas in exchange for the release of American hostages. But, the officials said,...

Hamas’ gruesome terrorist attack against Israel has left the entire world in shock, primarily at the barbarity of Hamas’ actions but also at the monumental intelligence failure on the part of Israel’s vaunted security establishment. The tragic attack has also encouraged some healthy critical reflection on the Biden regime’s Middle East policy. In a colossal blunder worthy of the legendarily inaccurate financial commentator Jim Cramer, Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan just this month bragged that “the Middle East is quieter now than it has been in two decades.” Of course, no one can be expected to predict the future,...

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan denied that the US provided direct military assistance during Israel’s operation that rescued four hostages from the Nuseirat refugee camp Saturday. Sullivan acknowledged that the US did provide the Israel Defense Forces with general intelligence as it has done throughout the Israel-Hamas war, but was adamant that the US was not involved in the operation. “One thing I can say is that there were no US forces, no US boots on the ground involved in this operation. We did not participate militarily in this operation,” Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union” in a pretaped...

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that it was tragic that innocent people were killed during the Israeli military operation that rescued four hostages who were kidnapped during the October 7, 2023 Hamas terror attack.Anchor Dana Bash said, "I want to ask you a little bit more about that mission. One of the questions is what we're hearing from Gaza, different hospitals in Gaza say at least 236 people were killed as a part of the Israeli operation to rescue hostages what is your understanding of how many Palestinian civilians, not militants, but...

Arnon Zmora’s widow eulogizes ‘a sweet man full of laughter, sensitivity and compassion’; in tearful tribute, uncle of rescued hostage says families have ‘unbreakable alliance’ Thousands of mourners, among them family members of hostages held in Gaza, flocked to Jerusalem on Sunday to attend the funeral of Arnon Zmora, the police counter-terror officer killed Saturday during an operation that rescued four captives from central Gaza. Zmora, an officer of the elite Yamam counter-terrorism unit, was shot and critically injured by Hamas terrorists guarding three of the four hostages. He succumbed to his wounds shortly upon arriving at a hospital in...

Hostages were forced to read the Quran. Hostages who were rescued from captivity on Saturday say that the terrorists forced them to read the Quran and learn Islamic rulings.

Why do we never see Pro-Palestine activists protesting about the genocide in Sudan?.The cohorts of Hamas invaded my London neighbourhood on Thursday. I was out walking when I paused to look at the remaining posters of kidnapped Israelis. Suddenly they were there. Five men, their faces slack with hate, started screaming “F--- Israel!” and “colonialist pigs!” A.... It is Hamas, not the Israelis, who are the oppressors. No other baby in the world was kidnapped for seven months, during which time neither Unicef, Red Cross, nor Amnesty even questioned its captivity. This is an uncomfortable fact for Sadiq Khan. Equally...

Benny Gantz, a key member of Israel’s war cabinet, who is seen as a moderating presence, resigned from the government on Sunday, citing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza. Concerned with the open-ended conflict and the lack of success in retrieving those captured by Hamas, Gantz had, for weeks, been threatening to resign. He had set a deadline of Saturday for Netanyahu to address key issues, including the return of four hostages. After Israeli authorities announced the rescue of the hostages, Gantz postponed his planned news conference, choosing instead to wait a day before publicly...

A gander at Al Jazeera's website reveals a strong bias for the 'Israel-bad, Palestinians-victims' party line so dear to Hamas.But mere bias may be the least of this Qatari-financed news agency's issues.The Israeli Defense Forces says that one of its contributors, Abdallah Aljamal, was actually holding three hostages rescued on Saturday by Israeli commandos inside his Gaza home as a trusted Hamas operative. His father, a doctor, was holding the other one, Noa Argamani, the female hostage who was rescued with the other three.According to the New York Post:A Gaza journalist who wrote for Al Jazeera was holding three hostages...

Minister Benny Gantz (National Unity) announced on Sunday that he, together with his party, would be leaving the emergency government which he joined at the onset of the war. "Months after the October tragedy, the situation in the country and in the room of the decision-makers has changed. Netanyahu and his partners have turned unity into a moving call, without real-world action. Fateful strategic decisions are met with hesitancy and procrastination due to political considerations," Gantz stated in an address announcing his decision. He claimed that "Netanyahu prevents us from proceeding to true victory. Therefore, today, we are leaving the...

Declaring that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “preventing us from reaching true victory,” National Unity chairman Benny Gantz says that his party is pulling out of the government, making good on an ultimatum. His party joined the coalition following October 7 for the sake of the country even though “we knew it was a bad government” and has since seen strategic considerations pushed aside for political reasons, he says.

A Gaza journalist was holding three hostages in his home with his family before he was killed by Israeli commandos during a rescue operation on Saturday, according to the Israeli military. Abdallah Aljamal, who also worked as a spokesman for the Hamas-run labor ministry, was killed when special forces soldiers stormed his home in central Gaza and rescued hostages, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andri Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41 …

n Israel, the news of four hostages rescued from Gaza was met with cheering crowds and tearful scenes of reuniting families. Officials hailed the operation as miraculous and heroic, and offered a rare win for Israel's embattled Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. But it came at the expense of hundreds of Palestinians, who suffered one of the bloodiest days in Gaza. Video filmed by an NBC News crew on the ground showed streets scattered with charred bodies, survivors gathering body parts into sacks, rescuers carrying mangled and blood-soaked children into chaotic hospitals overwhelmed with the injured. By Sunday, joy in Israel...

Since October 7, Hamas has had the choice to return the hostages and end the war. It refused, and now its supporters are horrified that Hamas and Co. are paying a price. Since October 7, Hamas has had the choice to return the hostages and end the war. It refused, and now its supporters are horrified that Hamas members, both in uniform and civilians. are paying a price. In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza, leaving the region Judenrein (“Jew free,” as the Nazis liked to say) and without an Israeli military presence. There was no occupation. Gazans promptly—and overwhelmingly—elected Hamas,...

Yossi Meir Jan, 57, the father of freed Israeli hostage Almog Meir Jan, 21, died just hours before his son was rescued by Israeli forces Saturday. The cause of death, his family said, was a broken heart after eight months of his son’s captivity. The Jerusalem Post reported: The father of Almog Meir Jan, one of the four hostages rescued from Hamas captivity, was found dead in his home on Saturday, according to Israeli media reports on Saturday night. … Though he was ill, family members told Israeli media that they believe he died from grief.

IDF spokesman says warning those holding the hostages 'would defeat the purpose' since the terrorists would 'kill the hostages'; CNN takes heat for saying that the hostages were 'released', implying that Hamas freed them. Ran Boker | published: 07.09.24 |14:34 The coverage of Operation Arnon, in which four hostages held captive in Gaza were rescued, aroused interest throughout the world media; But as is typical when it comes to the coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas, it did not go smoothly.. Conricus was forced to answer the obvious to the strange question: "Of course, we cannot anticipate Israel...