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Israel Identifies Body Of Hostage Recovered From Gaza, Days After Father’s Remains Were Found

Published

9 months ago

January 13, 2025

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The Israeli military said Friday it had identified the body of a hostage recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza as the son of Yosef Al-Ziyadnah, a hostage whose body was recovered earlier this week.

Hamza Al-Ziyadnah, 23, was found dead in a tunnel in the Rafah area, a joint statement from the Israel Defense Forces and Internal Security Agency, known as Shin Bet, said on Friday.

The Israeli military said Wednesday it had recovered the body of Yousef Al-Ziyadnah, 53, from a tunnel in the Rafah area and had discovered evidence that raised “grave concerns” for his son’s life.

Hamza and his father were kidnapped during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and had been held in the Gaza Strip.

“Hamza and Yosef were abducted alive on October 7 and were killed while in Hamas captivity,” the statement said.

The Al-Ziyadnah family are part of the Bedouin Muslim-Arab community that lives in southern Israel’s Negev desert.

Yousef and three of his children – Hamza, Bilal, and Aysha – were taken from Kibbutz Holit in southwest Israel, where they used to work. Bilal and Aysha were among the dozens of hostages returned in the short-lived ceasefire deal in November 2023.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum expressed grief at the news of Hamza’s death and again called for a deal to release the remaining hostages held in Gaza.

“Yosef and Hamza, who survived a period in the hell of Gaza captivity, could have been saved through an earlier agreement,” the statement said.

“The time and conditions are ripe for all the hostages to return – bringing the living home for rehabilitation and the deceased for proper burial,” it said. “The negotiations must be expedited to secure an immediate deal for their return. This historic window of opportunity stands before us and must not be lost.”

No breakthrough in hostage talks
Talks over a potential hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza appear deadlocked, with Hamas claiming that Israel has introduced new conditions and Egyptian mediators sounding downbeat about progress.

A Hamas official told CNN on Friday that Israel has demanded holding on to a 1-kilometer strip of territory along the eastern and northern borders of the enclave.

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The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was responding to a report by Reuters citing an unnamed Palestinian official about the alleged new condition.

“Israel still insists on keeping a 1 km landscape along the eastern and northern borders of the Gaza Strip, which will restrict the return of residents to their homes and represent a retreat from what it (Israel) had agreed upon in July,” the official told Reuters.

The Hamas official who spoke to CNN said Israel’s conditions included “much more” but did not offer further details.

CNN says it reached out to Israel about the claims.

Meanwhile, an Egyptian official and another diplomat briefed on the matter told CNN on Friday that the indirect talks between Hamas and Israel in Qatar have yet to reach a breakthrough, despite statements from United States officials indicating that they were progressing.

“There is a clear appetite on the part of the Americans to get a deal done for the incoming Trump administration,” the diplomat said. But the diplomat sounded a note of caution: “Things are going well but there is still a lot of work to do.”

The comments come a day after US President Joe Biden said he met with negotiators and added that his assessment was that there was “real progress” being made.

We’re making some real progress. I met with negotiators today,” Biden said. “Hope springs eternal, but I think I’m still hopeful that we’ll be able to have a prisoner exchange. Hamas is the one getting in the way of that exchange, right now.”

US President-elect Donald Trump warned in a press conference this week that if the hostages Hamas is holding in Gaza are not released by his inauguration on January 20, “all hell will break out in the Middle East.”

Ninety-eight hostages are still being held in Gaza, including 36 who are presumed to be dead, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s pick for special envoy to the Middle East, told reporters Wednesday he will be travelling to Qatar for the talks, saying negotiators are “making a lot of progress,.” and appeared to suggest that a deal before January 20 was realistic.

However, a senior Biden administration official struck a more cautious tone, telling CNN that the negotiations remain “difficult.”

US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators are in the Qatari capital Doha in their latest push to close a deal between Hamas and Israel after more than a year of failed negotiations.

Headline

US Revokes Visas Of Foreigners Who Mocked Kirk’s Assassination

Published

19 hours ago

October 15, 2025

Editor

The United States has revoked the visas of several foreign nationals who publicly mocked or celebrated the killing of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk, officials confirmed on Tuesday.

The State Department said the decision followed an internal review of social media posts deemed “offensive and contrary to U.S. values,” adding that the country “has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans.”

Kirk, 31, co-founder of the conservative youth group Turning Point USA and a strong ally of former President Donald Trump, was shot dead during a political rally on 10 September.

His killing drew widespread condemnation across the political spectrum, with many describing the act as a targeted attack on free speech.

According to U.S. authorities, at least six individuals from Argentina, South Africa, Brazil, Paraguay, Mexico, and Germany had their visas revoked after making comments online that celebrated Kirk’s murder or insulted his supporters.

Examples cited by officials included posts calling Kirk a racist who deserved it, and messages mocking grieving Americans.

“We will not tolerate foreigners who promote or celebrate acts of violence against U.S. citizens,” a State Department spokesperson said.

The move underscores Washington’s growing use of immigration powers to respond to online behaviour perceived as threatening or disrespectful towards the country.

The Department said it continues to monitor social media content for evidence of incitement or endorsement of violence.
Civil liberties advocates, however, have questioned the decision, arguing that revoking visas for social media comments could set a worrying precedent.

Officials maintained that the visa cancellations were lawful, limited in scope, and aimed at protecting national integrity.

“Freedom of speech does not extend to foreigners seeking the privilege of entry while glorifying violence,” the spokesperson added.

The United States has increased visa scrutiny in recent years, requiring applicants to disclose social media handles and online activity.

The policy, officials say, is designed to prevent extremist sympathisers or those expressing hostility towards the country from entering its borders

Headline

Israeli PM Netanyahu Back In Court For Graft Trial

Published

21 hours ago

October 15, 2025

Editor

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was back in a Tel Aviv court on Wednesday for the latest hearing in his long-running corruption trial, which opened in May 2020.

The prime minister kept a smiling face as he and his entourage of several ministers from his conservative Likud party were heckled by protesters en route to the tribunal.

It comes after US President Donald Trump suggested on Monday that the Israeli premier should be pardoned in his three separate corruption cases.

His latest appearance at the Tel Aviv court also follows the return of the hostages taken by Hamas as part of Trump’s US-brokered plan to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

In one case, Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting more than $260,000 worth of luxury goods, including champagne, cigars and jewellery, from billionaires in exchange for political favours.

In two other instances, Netanyahu is also charged with attempting to negotiate better press coverage from two Israeli media outlets. He has denied any wrongdoing, claiming to be the victim of a political plot.

During his current term, which started in late 2022, Netanyahu has proposed far-reaching judicial reforms that critics say sought to weaken the courts.

Those prompted massive protests that only abated after the onset of the Gaza war, sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

In an address on Monday to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, Trump told the chamber that Netanyahu should receive a pardon in the graft cases.

“Cigars and champagne, who the hell cares about that?” Trump joked, before asking his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog: “Why don’t you give him a pardon?”

The Israeli premier is also subject to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on suspicion of ordering war crimes in his government’s assault on Hamas militants in Gaza.

Netanyahu holds the record for the most years spent at the head of Israel’s government, having served 18 years in several stints as premier since 1996.

AFP

Headline

FULL LIST: US Set To Carry Out Four Executions This Week

Published

21 hours ago

October 15, 2025

Editor

A Florida man convicted of murdering two women he hired for sex was put to death by lethal injection on Tuesday, one of four executions to be carried out in the United States this week.

Samuel Smithers, 72, was sentenced to death in 1999 for the 1996 killings of Christy Cowan and Denise Roach in Tampa. They had been beaten and strangled and their bodies were found in a pond.

Smithers was executed at a Florida state prison at 6:15 pm (2215 GMT), the 14th execution in the southern state this year.

Another convicted murderer was also put to death by lethal injection in the midwestern state of Missouri on Tuesday.

The execution of Lance Shockley, 48, was carried out at 6:13 pm (2313 GMT) for the 2005 murder of a police sergeant, Carl Graham.

Graham was gunned down in an ambush at his home. The officer had been investigating a fatal car accident involving Shockley at the time.

Shockley maintained his innocence but his appeals were rejected by numerous courts, including the Supreme Court. Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe rejected his clemency request on Monday.

Two other executions are scheduled this week.

Charles Crawford, 59, is to be put to death by lethal injection in Mississippi on Wednesday for the 1994 rape and murder of Kristy Ray, a 20-year-old college student.

Richard Djerf, 55, is to be executed by lethal injection in Arizona on Friday for the brutal 1993 murders of four members of a Phoenix family.

In a letter last month apologizing for the crime, Djerf said he was ready to die and would not seek clemency.

“If I can’t find reason to spare my life, what reason would anyone else have?” he wrote.

There have been 37 executions in the United States this year, the most since 2013, when 39 inmates were put to death.

Florida has carried out the most executions with 14, followed by Texas with five and South Carolina and Alabama with four.

Thirty-one of this year’s executions have been carried out by lethal injection, two by firing squad and four by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.

The use of nitrogen gas as a method of capital punishment has been denounced by United Nations experts as cruel and inhumane.

The death penalty has been abolished in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others — California, Oregon and Pennsylvania — have moratoriums in place.

President Donald Trump is a proponent of capital punishment and, on his first day in office, called for an expansion of its use “for the vilest crimes.”