BREAKING....Thread 8...Israel At War...OPERATION SWORDS OF IRON

[Elderberry]

i24NEWS English
@i24NEWS_EN·

'We have been witnessing, for the last 75 days, low-intensity conflict with Hezbollah, well it has changed. This is now a high-intensity conflict with Hezbollah' Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah breaks down the change on Israel's northern front

https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1737810356578156961

[mystery-ak]

Hamas Cuts Off Hostage Negotiations; Refuses to Talk Under Fire

The Palestinian Hamas terrorist group has cut off negotiations with Israel, demanding a lull in fighting before any more talks. Israel, which is closing in on Hamas leaders in Gaza, refused that demand.

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2023/12/21/hamas-cuts-off-hostage-negotiations-refuses-to-talk-under-fire/

[mountaineer]

Hamas wants a lull in the fighting? What a joke. Maybe they should stop pounding Israel with missiles.

https://twitter.com/Ostrov_A/status/1737800305360740613

[mystery-ak]

Hamas: No Hostage Exchange Negotiations Unless Israel Ends War
Ed Morrissey 9:21 AM on December 21, 2023

Well, that’s that. Under pressure from the US and other allies as well as the families of the remaining hostages, Israel offered a one-week operational pause to exchange more Palestinian prisoners to free the remaining Israelis. That offered a longer pause than the first deal, and a potential framework for other discussions.

Instead, Hamas insisted on a formal cease-fire, release of all imprisoned Palestinians, and increased aid just to open negotiations:

    The hostage negotiations were set to include, for the first time, representatives of Hamas ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has also said that Israel must implement a cease-fire before negotiations could start. Islamic Jihad also demands that Israel free all of its thousands of Palestinian prisoners in return for the over 100 hostages remaining in Gaza.

    Fighters belonging to Islamic Jihad, which like Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., also participated in the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and took hostages.

    In the offer rejected by Hamas, Israel sought the release of 40 hostages, including all the remaining women and children and elderly male hostages who need urgent medical treatment, the Egyptian officials said. In return, the Israeli military would pause its ground and air operations in Gaza for a week and allow further humanitarian aid to enter the enclave, the Egyptian officials said.

more
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2023/12/21/hamas-no-hostage-exchange-negotiations-unless-israel-ends-war-n600499

[Right_in_Virginia]

Blinken: Ending Israel-Hamas war ‘as quickly as possible’ top priority for US in 2024
Times of Israel, Dec 20, 2023

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that bringing the Israel-Hamas war to an end “as quickly as possible” is a top priority for the Biden administration in the year ahead.

The goal was listed as the number four priority set by Blinken for 2024 during a year-end press conference. Supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia, combating China and coalition building are priorities listed ahead of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which in previous years was even lower down the Biden administration’s list of priorities.

“It’s clear that this conflict needs to move — will move — to a lower intensity phase,” Blinken said. “We expect to see, and want to see, a shift to more targeted operations, with a smaller number of forces that are really focused on dealing with the leadership of Hamas, the tunnel network and a few other different things.”

As that happens, you’ll see the harm done to civilians decrease significantly,” the US secretary of state added.

The Biden administration has intensified its rhetoric on the need for Israel to wind down high-intensity fighting in Gaza while being careful not to publicly set a timeline for when this must happen. Privately, visiting Biden Administration officials have told Israel that they expect the phasing to lower intensity fighting to begin in January, two US and Israeli officials told The Times of Israel.

He reiterated that the US will continue to engage with Israel in order to minimize harm to civilians, secure the release of all hostages, prevent the conflict from spreading and move toward a “durable, lasting peace.”

Blinken has stressed the Biden administration’s support for the establishment of a Palestinian state in each of the dozen-plus phone calls he has held with counterparts around the world in recent days, according to readouts issued by his office.

The US has viewed Hamas’s potential eradication in Gaza as an opportunity to reunite the Strip and the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, in what could pave a path toward a two-state solution. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the rest of the Israeli government are deeply opposed to the idea, but Jerusalem is increasingly reliant on support from the US, especially as it seeks to prevent the opening of a second front with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

More:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/blinken-ending-israel-hamas-war-as-quickly-as-possible-top-priority-for-us-in-2024/

[Right_in_Virginia]

Times of Israel Updates
UPDATED 2MIN AGO

IDF says troops gained full control over Gaza City’s flashpoint Shejaiya neighborhood

[Right_in_Virginia]

Fighting terrorism did not mean Israel had to ‘flatten Gaza’, says Emmanuel Macron
The Guardian, Dec 20, 2023

Emmanuel Macron has said that Israel’s goal of fighting terrorism did not mean it had to “flatten Gaza”, referring to its response to Hamas’s attack on 7 October.

“We cannot let the idea take root that an efficient fight against terrorism implies to flatten Gaza or attack civilian populations indiscriminately,” Macron told the France 5 broadcaster.

The French president called on Israel “to stop this response because it is not appropriate, because all lives are worth the same and we defend them”.

While acknowledging “Israel’s right to defend itself and fight terror”, Macron said France called for the protection of civilians and “a truce leading to a humanitarian ceasefire”.


More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/20/fighting-terrorism-did-not-mean-israel-had-to-flatten-gaza-says-emmanuel-macron

[mystery-ak]

WATCH: IDF Destroys Tunnels Underneath ‘Elite Quarter’ of Gaza City

Joel B. Pollak 21 Dec 2023

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) destroyed a tunnel network Thursday used by the “elite” leaders of Hamas in the area of Shejaiya, in Gaza City, in northern Gaza.

The underground detonation, set by the combat engineers of the Yahalom (“Diamond”) unit, set off explosions underneath several city blocks.

The IDF said in a statement:

    Last night (Wednesday), the IDF exposed the terrorist infrastructure embedded in Hamas’ “Elite Quarter” in Gaza City, including a large network of strategic underground tunnels which connect hideouts, and bureaus belonging to Hamas’ senior military and political leadership. Today (Thursday), the network of tunnels was destroyed in a controlled manner.

As Breitbart News reported on Wednesday, the IDF found the tunnel network after clearing Hamas terrorists out of the area around “Palestine Square,” where terrorists and Hamas supporters had jeered Israeli hostages on their capture and release.

The tunnels extended from the homes and offices of senior Hamas leaders and their aides, and consisted of several levels, with sophisticated construction that included underground elevators and blast doors to repel potential attacks and deflect explosions.

According to the Times of Israel, the IDF said Thursday that it had gained full control of Shejaiya, where Hamas terrorists had fought Israeli soldiers for several days. Nine elite Golani soldiers had been killed last week in a Hamas ambush there; it was also the neighborhood where three Israeli hostages were accidentally killed by the IDF after escaping their Hamas captors.

The detonation of the tunnel network is a significant moment for the Yahalom unit, which has lost several members in Gaza. Yahalom engineers are exposed to booby-trapped tunnels and must also fight Hamas soldiers it encounters near the tunnels.

Hamas said Thursday that it would not negotiate with Israel for the release of the roughly 128 hostages still in its custody unless Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire. It has rejected a pause that would allow Israel to resume fighting after hostage exchanges.

video at link
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2023/12/21/watch-idf-destroys-tunnels-underneath-elite-quarter-of-gaza-city/

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1737896197270929650

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1737891471003472347

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1737877275289284664

[Right_in_Virginia]

ICYMI---- This article  presents information on how vast and technologically advanced these tunnels are .......

If the generals are counting tunnels, it suggests things are not going well’
Times of Israel, Dec 19, 2023

This week, the Israel Defense Forces publicized what it said was the biggest Hamas terror tunnel uncovered to date, built under the stewardship of Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar’s brother Muhammad in the northern Gaza Strip, near the Erez Crossing into Israel.

The IDF didn’t specify if and how the tunnel was utilized during Hamas’s October 7 massacre, when its terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people in southern Israel. But since it extends some four kilometers, from the northern part of the Jabaliya refugee camp to 300 meters (less than a thousand feet) short of the border, it is not unreasonable to deduce that it played a part.

From its large northern opening, dozens of motorcycles or all-terrain vehicles could emerge quickly. With a group that size and that close to the border fence, IDF observation posts and patrols would be too late and too overwhelmed to prevent an attack.

Israel has known for years about Hamas’s Gaza underworld, including its vast tunnel networks, but largely chose not to carry out cross-border operations to demolish them. This was both a consequence of a policy of containing Hamas, and because sending ground troops into Gaza requires complex military considerations and great risk to soldiers’ lives. The political echelons avoided this at almost all costs, until October 7.

The tunnel exposed this week is known colloquially as a “stem.” The IDF didn’t publish footage of its “branches,” but they exist. The massive tunnel system consists of a main shaft that descends to a depth of 50 meters, with “branches” coming off the sides and exit shafts located in schools and other buildings.

More:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/if-the-generals-are-counting-tunnels-it-suggests-things-are-not-going-well/

[DefiantMassRINO]

If Hamas has money for tunnels and rockets, they have money for food, water, shelter, hospitals, and schools ... they just chose to spend the money on destroying Israel instead of building a more peaceful and prosperous Gaza.

 

Damn, Hamas buiilds better tunnels than Bechtel.  Boston should have hired them for the Big Dig.

[mountaineer]

Emmanuel Macron has said that Israel’s goal of fighting terrorism did not mean it had to “flatten Gaza”

Merde.

[DefiantMassRINO]

What did Hamas excpect after they carried out the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust?

Israel has to flatten Gaza because Hamas does not fight out in the open using rules of engagement. 

Hamas is an irregular terrorist army that embeds itself among civilians calculating that Western powers would lack the resolve to risk substantial civilian casualties necessary to significantly degrade Hamas.  Hamas miscalculated - October 7th was too successful; Israel could not allow Gaza to remain a threat to Israeli civilians.

This could all end now if Iran's proxy, Hamas, surrendered and released the hostages.

[DCPatriot]

What did Hamas excpect after they carried out the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust?

Israel has to flatten Gaza because Hamas does not fight out in the open using rules of engagement. 

Hamas is an irregular terrorist army that embeds itself among civilians calculating that Western powers would lack the resolve to risk substantial civilian casualties necessary to significantly degrade Hamas.  Hamas miscalculated - October 7th was too successful; Israel could not allow Gaza to remain a threat to Israeli civilians.

This could all end now if Iran's proxy, Hamas, surrendered and released the hostages.

Word!   

[berdie]

What did Hamas excpect after they carried out the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust?

Israel has to flatten Gaza because Hamas does not fight out in the open using rules of engagement. 

Hamas is an irregular terrorist army that embeds itself among civilians calculating that Western powers would lack the resolve to risk substantial civilian casualties necessary to significantly degrade Hamas.  Hamas miscalculated - October 7th was too successful; Israel could not allow Gaza to remain a threat to Israeli civilians.

This could all end now if Iran's proxy, Hamas, surrendered and released the hostages.

Exactly.

[libertybele]

What did Hamas excpect after they carried out the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust?

Israel has to flatten Gaza because Hamas does not fight out in the open using rules of engagement. 

Hamas is an irregular terrorist army that embeds itself among civilians calculating that Western powers would lack the resolve to risk substantial civilian casualties necessary to significantly degrade Hamas.  Hamas miscalculated - October 7th was too successful; Israel could not allow Gaza to remain a threat to Israeli civilians.

This could all end now if Iran's proxy, Hamas, surrendered and released the hostages.

My hunch is the hostages that they claim that they have are likely dead or so battered and in such horrific shape that they can't release them.

[Right_in_Virginia]

This could all end now if Iran's proxy, Hamas, surrendered and released the hostages.

Are you sure about that?  It seems history has proven that between Israel and Palestine any end is but a lull in the fightng  --- with Israel's enemies growing stronger.

[DCPatriot]

Are you sure about that?  It seems history has proven that between Israel and Palestine any end is but a lull in the fightng  --- with Israel's enemies growing stronger.

Not sure if "stronger" is the word.  "Larger" perhaps.

I'm 110% behind Israel flattening the entire Gaza Strip.  Even if they surrender.

"NEVER AGAIN" means never again!

[Hoodat]

"NEVER AGAIN" means never again!

Exactly.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Not sure if "stronger" is the word.  "Larger" perhaps.

Looking at the tunnels that have been built and the advance from sending glorified firecrackers as rockets to steel rockets with range to hit Jerusalem points to strength more than size, IMO.

[DCPatriot]

Exactly.

They could have made Gaza Strip a Paradise!

Instead they used it to help them kill Jews. 

[Right_in_Virginia]

I'm 110% behind Israel flattening the entire Gaza Strip.  Even if they surrender.  "NEVER AGAIN" means never again!

I get that, and understand it @DCPatriot    I simply do not see it as a solution ----- if Israeli safety and security is the goal.

[Right_in_Virginia]

They could have made Gaza Strip a Paradise!

When and how was this?

[DCPatriot]

Looking at the tunnels that have been built and the advance from sending glorified firecrackers as rockets to steel rockets with range to hit Jerusalem points to strength more than size, IMO.

@Right_in_Virginia

Wasn't thinking about higher grade rockets.  That would surely write a new headline!

IMO, despite all the clamoring, Israel's response has been tempered. 

[Elderberry]

i24NEWS English
@i24NEWS_EN
·
🔴IDF reveals documentation from a #Hamas terrorist's bodycam:

WATCH as plainclothes terrorists place IEDs on #Gaza streets

https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1738175553080033564

[Elderberry]

Israel Radar
@IsraelRadar_com
·
Hamas uses children to move explosives around Gaza, terror commander reveals during interrogation in Israel; Hamas also sends unarmed operatives with children on motorcycles to collect intel on IDF forces, Israeli officer says. via @ynetalerts

[Elderberry]

i24NEWS English
@i24NEWS_EN
·
Hamas reportedly discusses with the Fatah the possibility of joining the PLO and Gaza's government in the future

'Israel should be very strict and firm in its stands. All these things of a sort of a coalition are unheard of, and Israel must resist that,' says Prof. @uzi_rabi

https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1738167675052793882

[Elderberry]

Israel Radar
@IsraelRadar_com
·
War update:
Fighter jets bomb multiple Hezbollah military sites in Lebanon after over 20 rockets & anti-tank missiles fired at Israel; reports from Gaza: 3 killed in IDF strike on vehicle in Rafah. via @N12News
Quote
Israel Radar
@IsraelRadar_com
·
Gaza war update:
IDF locates & destroys long-range rocket launchers used to fire at Israel; forces seize weapons near daycare center in Gaza City including mortars & explosives; Navy bombs Hamas terror targets on Gaza coast; 2 soldiers killed in fighting. via @idfonline

[Elderberry]

i24NEWS English
@i24NEWS_EN

🔴IDF: Over the past two days, troops have conducted intelligence-based targeted raids on compounds where #Hamas terrorists were operating in a school on the outskirts of Shati

The troops located large quantities of weapons, ammunition, and maps belonging to Hamas

[Elderberry]

i24NEWS English
@i24NEWS_EN
·
Can Qatar and Egypt pressure Hamas to accept a hostage deal?

'What Sinwar thought would be international pressure or support from other Arab states has failed. He's been left with only one card: the hostages,' says Prof. @uzi_rabi

https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1738132457596039365

[Elderberry]

Mario Nawfal
@MarioNawfal

🚨🇵🇸🇾🇪 BREAKING: HOUTHIS SENDING TO TROOPS TO GAZA

In Yemen's north, a general mobilization is underway by the Houthis to send fighters to the Gaza Strip, as stated by their political bureau.

Source: Sputnik

https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1737477773365547047

[mystery-ak]

Dem Rep. Moulton: Israel Stopped Listening to Biden After Delaying Invasion Based on His Advice

On Thursday’s “CNN News Central,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) stated that Israel listened to the Biden administration at the beginning of the war with Hamas and “They delayed the invasion based on administration advice to take it more slowly, to devise a better plan before they went into Gaza. But it’s hard to say that Israel is listening to us now. They are clearly doubling down on these same tactics.”

more
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2023/12/21/dem-rep-moulton-israel-stopped-listening-to-biden-after-delaying-invasion-based-on-his-advice/

[Elderberry]

Israel Radar
@IsraelRadar_com
·

IDF’s elite 98th Division killed hundreds of terrorists in Khan Younis, mostly from close range, attacked 1,300 targets, exposed 150 tunnel shafts; Kfir Brigade also deployed in city after completing mission in northern Gaza. via @ynetalerts

[mountaineer]

Dem Rep. Moulton: Israel Stopped Listening to Biden After Delaying Invasion Based on His Advice

Good. The worst thing Israel - or any other nation on earth, including the US - could do is listen to the Biden Administration.

[Right_in_Virginia]

U.N. Security Council Passes Gaza Aid Resolution as U.S. Abstains
Dec 22, 2023, NY TIMES Updates

The United Nations Security Council on Friday adopted a resolution calling for a surge in aid to desperate civilians in the Gaza Strip, ending nearly a week of intense diplomatic wrangling intended to ensure that the United States would not block the measure.

The vote was 13-0 in favor of the resolution, with the United States and Russia abstaining. The final version of the resolution did not demand an immediate pause in the fighting, at the insistence of the United States, and so was unlikely to affect the fighting in Gaza, where about 20,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes and ground operations.

Russia proposed an amendment that would have partially reverted to an earlier version of the resolution, including a pause in the fighting, but the United States vetoed that change.

Friday’s resolution, put forward by the U.A.E., the only Arab country currently on the 15-member council, called on the warring parties in Gaza to allow the use of “all available routes” into Gaza for aid deliveries, according to a draft that was circulated before the vote. It also demands the immediate release of all hostages abducted during the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

One major sticking point in talks had been the question of whether Israel would still inspect all aid shipments, a system U.N. officials said had made it nearly impossible to scale up the delivery of food, fuel, medicine and other aid.

The final resolution asks the U.N. secretary general to appoint a coordinator responsible for “facilitating, coordinating, monitoring and verifying” that aid cargo entering Gaza is humanitarian in nature, who would be “consulting all relevant parties.”

The approved resolution also dropped a call for the “urgent suspension of hostilities” from an earlier version, instead calling for “urgent steps” to allow unhindered humanitarian access and the creation of “conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities.”

[Right_in_Virginia]

@Right_in_Virginia

Wasn't thinking about higher grade rockets.  That would surely write a new headline!

IMO, despite all the clamoring, Israel's response has been tempered.

Israel's response has been the best the IDF can do @DCPatriot

[Right_in_Virginia]

Israel Radar
@IsraelRadar_com
·
Hamas uses children to move explosives around Gaza, terror commander reveals during interrogation in Israel; Hamas also sends unarmed operatives with children on motorcycles to collect intel on IDF forces, Israeli officer says. via @ynetalerts

First time or just something else missed by the IDF, Mossad and Shin Bet?

[DCPatriot]

Israel's response has been the best the IDF can do @DCPatriot

@Right_in_Virginia

Meant that surely Israel has the military capacity to destroy the enemy, but because Hamas doesn't fight conventionally, Israel has to dance, bob and weave to keep civilians alive. 

Funny that the United States and Allied forces never thought of that being applied to Dresden, Germany or Tokyo, Japan.

Israel if fighting two fronts.  Hamas and Public Opinion.

[Right_in_Virginia]

@Right_in_Virginia

Meant that surely Israel has the military capacity to destroy the enemy, but because Hamas doesn't fight conventionally, Israel has to dance, bob and weave to keep civilians alive. 

Nah .....  If Israel's learned anything it should be not to expect their enemy to fight a war according to Israel's preferences @DCPatriot    As for dancing,  every unit engaged in urban warfare bobs and weaves to keep their soldiers alive, including the IDF.

Funny that the United States and Allied forces never thought of that being applied to Dresden, Germany or Tokyo, Japan.

I'm not sure what this means, sorry ....

Israel if fighting two fronts.  Hamas and Public Opinion.

Welcome to war in the age of worldwide communications in the blink of an eye.

The good news is:  no nation is more prepared for a PR battle than is the State of Israel.



@DCPatriot

[Smokin Joe]

Or use the ones the found in those Hamas honeyholes.

Watching the videos, Hamas, like most M.E. terrorists, use the AK.

It does dawn on me, however, there is a good chance these rifles were made after 1986, and if so, no American civilian could legally own one.

[Elderberry]

Israel Defense Forces
@IDF
Operational update from area of Issa within Gaza City:

🔺Soldiers of the Yiftah Battalion and combat engineering forces struck Hamas headquarters and eliminated terrorists.

🔺Soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade, who were operating in the area, located and discovered a number of shafts leading to a significant undergound tunnel route.

🔺Soldiers of the Yahalom Unit and the Oketz K-9 Unit examined and destroyed the significant and strategic underground tunnel route—used as an underground base by Hamas

https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1738291913176805663

[Elderberry]

Israel Radar
@IsraelRadar_com
·
Dramatic decline in Gaza rocket fire: Experts say Hamas starting to run out of rockets. Chart shows rocket alerts in Israeli communities near Gaza

https://twitter.com/IsraelRadar_com/status/1738262599018361072

[Hoodat]

Israel Radar
@IsraelRadar_com
·
Dramatic decline in Gaza rocket fire: Experts say Hamas starting to run out of rockets. Chart shows rocket alerts in Israeli communities near Gaza

They're also running out of schools and hospitals to launch them from.

[Hoodat]

Israel Defense Forces
@IDF
Operational update from area of Issa within Gaza City:

🔺Soldiers of the Yiftah Battalion and combat engineering forces struck Hamas headquarters and eliminated terrorists.

🔺Soldiers of the Paratroopers Brigade, who were operating in the area, located and discovered a number of shafts leading to a significant undergound tunnel route.

🔺Soldiers of the Yahalom Unit and the Oketz K-9 Unit examined and destroyed the significant and strategic underground tunnel route—used as an underground base by Hamas

https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1738291913176805663

Phosgene was invented specifically for this.

[mountaineer]

IDF is learning all kinds of things about the Palestinian culture while in Gaza.

https://twitter.com/MarinaMedvin/status/1738150220918050982

[mystery-ak]

Israel releases footage from army canine sent into Hamas tunnels


The Israel Defense Forces released video footage Friday from a camera attached to an army canine sent into Hamas tunnels in Gaza.

The tunnels functioned as underground outposts for the terror group, the IDF said.

Israel has made an effort to destroy as many tunnels in Gaza as it can.
Posted by Louis Casiano

[mystery-ak]

First American hostage dies in Hamas captivity

https://a57.foxnews.com/livenews.foxnews.com/images/2023/12/1440/810/04aa009052177b6f6669e1c2214d46dc.png?tl=1&ve=1
Gadi Haggai and his wife Judi. (Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum)

The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum announced Friday that Gadi Haggai, a 73-year-old Israeli-American hostage taken captive by Hamas, has died.

His wife, Judi, who also has American citizenship, still remains a hostage. Gadi Haggai is the first American hostage to have died in the conflict.

"Gadi was a man full of humor who knew how to make those around him laugh. A musician at heart, a gifted flutist, he played in the IDF Orchestra and was involved with music his whole life," the Forum said in a statement.

It added that on the morning of Oct. 7, Gadi and Judi went "for their regular morning walk in the fields and vineyards" of Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel when they were kidnapped by Hamas.

"Judi managed to notify friends that they had been shot and that Gadi was critically injured -- it was the last contact with them," the Forum said.

Fox News' Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this report.
Posted by Greg Norman

[mystery-ak]

Biden, first lady ’heartbroken’ about death of American hostage held in Gaza

President Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden were “heartbroken” that an American hostage being held by Hamas has died.

Gad Haggai, 73, an Israeli-American, is believed to have been killed by the terror group. He is the first American hostage to have died in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

His wife, Judi, who also has American citizenship, remains captive in Gaza.

“Today, we are praying for their four children, seven grandchildren, and other loved ones and are grieving this tragic news with them,” Biden said in a statement.

In a statement, the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum described Haggai as a man “full of humor who knew how to make those around him laugh. A musician at heart, a gifted flutist, he played in the IDF Orchestra and was involved with music his whole life.”

Biden said he spoke with the couple’s daughter by phone his meeting with the families of hostages last week.

He also reaffirmed his pledged to the families that “we will not stop working to bring them home.”
Posted by Louis Casiano