Headline
Profiles If 20 Israeli Hostages Due For Release From Gaza Captivity

Twenty living Israeli hostages are due for release from captivity in Gaza under a ceasefire deal with Hamas. Militants kidnapped them during Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel — the deadliest in the country’s history. Here are their profiles:
– Matan Angrest, 22 –
Sergeant Matan Angrest was captured in his tank near the border with the Gaza Strip after trying to stop Hamas commandos from crossing into Israel near the Nahal Oz base. Angrest, who comes from Kiryat Bialik in northern Israel, is a keen supporter of the Maccabi Haifa football team, according to his family.
A video published in April 2025 by his family shows the moment he was abducted from his tank. His family had planned a trip to Dubai to celebrate the end of his military service.
– Gali and Ziv Berman, 28–
The Berman twins were abducted in the youth area of the Kfar Aza kibbutz, which Hamas attackers set on fire. The inseparable brothers worked together in music production and supported the Maccabi Tel Aviv and Liverpool football clubs. Their parents and elder brother survived the attack.
– Elkana Bohbot, 36 –
Elkana Bohbot was one of the producers of the Supernova music festival, alongside his childhood friends Michael and Osher Waknin. Along with nearly 370 other people, they were killed in the Hamas attack on the site.
Married to a Colombian woman and father of one boy, Bohbot lived in Mevasseret Tzion, near Jerusalem. Colombian President Gustavo Petro granted him Colombian nationality in November 2023, a month after the attack.
His wife, Rebecca Gonzalez, said in February 2025 that she had received proof of life from former hostage Ohad Ben Ami, released on 8 February.
At the time of his abduction, Bohbot was planning to open an ice cream stall in a Tel Aviv market, according to his parents. In May, he appeared in a video circulated by Hamas alongside another hostage, Yossef-Haim Ohana. He did not speak but appeared visibly weak.
READ ALSO:Trump Gives Update On Israel, Hamas Peace Deal
– Rom Braslavski, 21 –
Rom Braslavski, an Israeli-German from Jerusalem, was working as a security guard at the Supernova music festival when it was attacked in the early hours of 7 October.
Between 10:30 a.m., when he last contacted his mother, and 1:30 p.m., when he disappeared, he stayed at the scene, helping to protect others, according to witnesses who escaped. Both his hands were injured during the attack.
In August 2025, Hamas ally Islamic Jihad published a video showing Braslavski looking frail and speaking under duress.
– Nimrod Cohen, 21 –
Hamas videos showed Nimrod Cohen being dragged with three other soldiers from his assault tank, which had faulty brakes, near the Nahal Oz kibbutz. The three other soldiers — Omer Neutra, Oz Daniel, and Shaked Dahan — were killed, and their bodies taken to Gaza. Dahan’s body was later repatriated to Israel.
Cohen, from Rehovot, south of Tel Aviv, always carried a Rubik’s cube, which his mother now keeps — partially burned — from his tank. His parents have been active in raising awareness of the hostages’ plight and pressing for their release.
– David and Ariel Cunio, 35 and 28 –
Israeli-Argentinian brothers David and Ariel Cunio were kidnapped along with several relatives while hiding in the safe room of David’s home in the Nir Oz kibbutz. Gunmen set fire to the house to force them out, then took eight people hostage — the largest number from a single family in the 7 October attack. Six relatives have since been released.
Israeli film director Tom Shoval presented A Letter to David, a tribute, at the Berlin Film Festival in February. The documentary later won the Ophir Award, Israel’s most prestigious film honour.
In 2013, David and his twin brother Eitan starred in Shoval’s film Youth. Eitan escaped the attack by hiding in his shelter at Nir Oz. The brothers share identical tattoos — three small dark green stars on their wrists.
At the Berlin festival, several actors and directors held up a photo of David Cunio on the red carpet.
– Evyatar David, 24 –
Evyatar David’s parents learnt that he had been taken hostage into Gaza from a photo posted on Telegram, his face illuminated by torchlight.
He was at the Supernova festival with his childhood friend Guy Gilboa Dalal, who was also taken hostage and is believed to be alive.
A music lover from Kfar Saba in central Israel, David was working in a café and saving for a trip to Thailand before his abduction.
In August 2025, Hamas released a propaganda video showing him severely undernourished and holding a shovel, claiming he was digging his own grave.
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– Guy Gilboa Dalal, 24 –
Guy Gilboa Dalal was abducted from the Supernova festival, his first rave party, along with three friends, including Evyatar David.
His family quickly learnt of his kidnapping from a video showing him and David tied up in a Gaza tunnel.
A hostage freed in June during an Israeli army operation said Gilboa Dalal had been injured by his captors.
He and David were shown in a February 2025 Hamas video watching a hostage release ceremony before being locked in a car, pleading for their freedom.
On 5 September, he appeared in another Hamas video with hostage Alon Ohel in a tunnel. A lover of Japanese culture, he had been studying the language with hopes of visiting Japan one day.
– Maxim Herkin, 37 –
Israeli-Russian national Maxim Herkin moved to Israel from Ukraine with his mother. He lived in Tirat Carmel, northern Israel, and is the father of a five-year-old girl who lives with her mother in Russia.
Before being kidnapped from the Supernova festival, he messaged his mother: “All is well. I’m coming home.”
In spring 2025, Hamas’s armed wing released a video showing Herkin lying down and apparently injured, with his head and left arm covered in blood-stained bandages.
– Eitan Horn, 39 –
Eitan Horn, from Argentina, was kidnapped with his elder brother Yair from the latter’s home in Nir Oz kibbutz.
He lived in Kfar Saba and worked in education, involved in youth movements. His family had emigrated from Argentina years earlier.
His brother, Yair, who is diabetic, was released in late February 2025.
– Segev Kalfon, 27 –
Segev Kalfon, from Dimona in southern Israel, worked with his parents at their bakery in Arad, in the Negev desert.
A childhood friend who attended the Supernova festival with him said Kalfon was captured as he tried to hide in the bushes along Route 232, the only exit from the festival, running parallel to the Gaza border.
A released hostage told Kalfon’s family he had spent time in captivity with him.
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– Bar Kuperstein, 23 –
During the Hamas attack on the Supernova festival, army nurse Bar Kuperstein, who turned 23 in April, stayed behind to help the wounded before being abducted.
He was a festival staff member but was not on duty that day.
Videos showing him bound appeared soon after the attack.
Kuperstein, from Holon, a suburb of Tel Aviv, took on major responsibilities at home after his father, Tal Kuperstein, was left disabled in an accident. His father has since partially regained the ability to speak and move and has been longing for his son’s return.
A rescue worker like his father, Bar once saved his grandfather’s life during a heart attack — just two months before being taken hostage.
– Omri Miran, 48 –
Israeli-Hungarian therapeutic masseur Omri Miran was taken from his home in Nahal Oz kibbutz in front of his wife, Lichay, and their two small daughters.
He appeared in an undated Hamas video released on 27 April 2024, saying, “I have been in Hamas captivity for 202 days. The situation here is unpleasant and difficult, and there are many bombs.”
Appearing to speak under duress, he urged his family to pressure the Israeli government to reach a deal.
His father, Dani, told AFP he grew a beard in solidarity with his son. Miran later appeared in another Hamas video released on 23 April 2025.
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– Eitan Mor, 25 –
Security guard Eitan Mor was abducted from Supernova.
The son of a practising Jewish family in the Kiryat Arba settlement in the occupied West Bank, his father, Tzvika Mor, founded the Forum of Hope — a group of hostages’ parents opposed to a deal with Hamas.
– Yosef Haim Ohana, 25 –
Yosef-Haim Ohana, from Kiryat Malakhi in southern Israel, was working as a barman at Supernova and planned to study sports coaching.
He was seen trying to help injured people before attempting to flee. His brother, Acher-Yitzhak, died of cancer at age seven.
Ohana appeared in a Hamas video in May 2025 alongside hostage Elkana Bohbot.
– Alon Ohel, 24 –
A talented pianist with Serbian and German nationality, Alon Ohel planned to begin music studies after returning from a trip to Asia.
He was abducted at Supernova while trying to hide with three other young men.
From the village of Lavon in northern Israel, his family said in February 2025 that they had received proof of life from released hostages, who said he was wounded and untreated.
– Avinatan Or, 32 –
Dual British-Israeli national Avinatan Or comes from a religious Jewish family of seven children in the Shilo settlement, West Bank.
His partner, Noa Argamani, was abducted with him at Supernova but was freed in an Israeli military operation in June 2024.
He was planning to move in with her in Beersheba, where he studied engineering.
– Matan Zangauker, 25 –
Matan Zangauker was kidnapped from his home in Nir Oz kibbutz with his Israeli-Mexican girlfriend, Ilana Gritzewsky, who was released in November 2023 during the first truce of the two-year war.
Zangauker’s mother, Einav, and Gritzewsky have since become prominent advocates for the hostages’ cause.
Zangauker enjoys aeromodelling and worked on the kibbutz’s medical cannabis farm.
Headline
Australian Govt Official Declares ‘Red Wednesday’ Over Attack On Kwara Church

Chairman of the Australian Committee for NATO enlargement, Gunther Fehlinger-Jahn, has declared a ‘Red Wednesday’ as part of a global awareness campaign against alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
Gunther made this known in a post on X while reacting to the recent attack on Christ Apostolic Church, CAC, in Kwara State.
Recall that terrorists on Tuesday invaded the church located in Eruku town, Ekiti Local Government Area of the state, and opened fire on worshipers.
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According to reports, the resident pastor and some persons were killed while majority of the worshipers were taken away to unknown destinations.
Reacting, Gunther in his X post said the incessant attacks on Nigerian Christians “is unacceptable”.
He wrote, “I got this video sent of an Islamist attack on a church in Nigeria. Today is #RedWednesday the global awareness day against prosecution of Christians.”
Headline
Pope Decries Lack Of Political Will On Climate Change

Pope Leo XIV on Monday urged “concrete actions” on climate change and complained that some leaders lacked the will to act, as he addressed religious dignitaries on the sidelines of the COP30 summit.
The Vatican released the American pope’s address to churches of the southern hemisphere assembled on the sidelines of the UN climate talks in Belem, Brazil, in which he called the Amazon region “a living symbol of creation with an urgent need for care”.
“Creation is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat,” the pope said.
“One in three people live in great vulnerability because of these climate changes. To them, climate change is not a distant threat, and to ignore these people is to deny our shared humanity,” he added.
“What is failing is the political will of some.”
READ ALSO:Young Catholics Converge On Rome For Pope Leo’s Vigil
The UN climate negotiations enter their final stretch this week, with nations split on key issues as government ministers began arriving Monday to take over negotiations.
“There is still time to keep the rise in global temperature below 1.5C, but the window is closing,” warned Leo, who called for “concrete actions” while championing the landmark Paris Agreement.
– Pope defends Paris Agreement –
The historic 2015 accord, from which US President Donald Trump has said he will withdraw the United States for the second time, aims to keep temperature rises “well below” 2C compared to pre-industrial levels and, if possible, to 1.5C.
The Paris Agreement was the “strongest tool for protecting people and the planet”, Leo said, decrying a lack of effort by some leaders, whom he did not name.
READ ALSO:Pope Leo XIV Declares Friday Global Prayer, Fasting Day For Peace
“True leadership means service and support on a scale that will truly make a difference,” he said, urging firmer climate action to bring about “stronger and fairer economic systems”.
“Let us send a clear global signal together: nations standing in unwavering solidarity behind the Paris Agreement and climate cooperation,” he said.
Since being made pope in May, the Chicago-born pontiff — who spent about 20 years as a missionary in Peru — has urged more pressure on governments to stop climate change.
Last month, during a climate conference near Rome, he called for an “ecological conversion” to help vulnerable communities.
READ ALSO:VIDEO: Tinubu Meets Pope Leo XIV After Inauguration Mass In Rome
October marked the 10-year anniversary of the late Pope Francis’s landmark climate manifesto “Laudato Si”, which appealed for action on human-caused global warming.
COP30, without the presence of the US government, is scheduled to end in five days, but groups of countries still disagree on many issues, including climate ambition, unilateral trade measures, and finance.
Some countries also want a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell welcomed what he called Pope Leo’s “strong message”.
“His words urge us to continue to choose hope and action,” he said.
Headline
Genocide: U.S. Lawmaker Alleges Tinubu Lying, Protecting Own Interest

…Congress to debate ‘Christian Persecution’ in Nigeria on Thursday
United States (U.S.) lawmaker, Riley Moore, has dismissed President Bola Tinubu’s denial of the targeted killing of Christians as “completely false”.
Moore said Tinubu’s denial was to “protect his interests,” adding that Nigeria’s political leaders were “complicit” in the killing of Christians.
In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Moore noted Tinubu’s statement, claiming that the “characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality” as incorrect.
Meanwhile, the Congress will, on Thursday, debate the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
READ ALSO:Trump To Receive Full Menu Of Options To Stop Nigeria Genocide – US Rep, Moore
This was as International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule (Intersociety) raised fresh claims 99 Christians were, again, killed in Nigeria in 14 days.
“Unfortunately, that is completely false. There are states in Nigeria that have blasphemy laws. People are facing the death penalty for blasphemy against Islam,” the U.S. lawmaker said. “I know President Tinubu is in a difficult position, and trying to protect his interests there in the country. But they are complicit in this to some degree or another for a statement like this.”
Moore cited the case of an Adamawa Christian farmer, Sunday Jackson, who was sentenced to death for defending himself against a killer herdsman.
“There is serious persecution in Nigeria,” Moore said.
CONGRESS is set to convene a hearing on Thursday to examine allegations of widespread persecution of Christians in Nigeria, following President Donald Trump’s recent decision to redesignate the country as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
READ ALSO:Ex-US Mayor, Sultan Clash Over Alleged Christian Genocide
The session will be led by Congressman Chris Smith, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, and a vocal advocate for stronger U.S. action on reported religious violence in Nigeria.
Smith previously introduced a congressional resolution naming the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore as responsible actors in several attacks. The resolution recommends visa bans and asset freezes against members of the groups.
It also called on White House to classify “Fulani-Ethnic Militias” operating in states such as Benue and Plateau under the Entities of Particular Concern (EPC) framework established by the International Religious Freedom Act.
Witnesses scheduled to testify include Jonathan Pratt, senior bureau official at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, and Jacob McGee, deputy assistant secretary at the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour.
READ ALSO:Trump Breaks Silence On ‘Christian Genocide’ In Nigeria
A second panel is expected to feature Nina Shea, senior fellow and director at the Centre for Religious Freedom; Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Makurdi Catholic Diocese; and Oge Onubogu, director and senior fellow for the Africa Programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
INTERSOCIETY alleged in a statement yesterday that 99 Christians were killed within the last 14 days.
It stated that the killing occurred between October 28 and November 11, adding that 114 others were kidnapped by the group that carried out the action, called Jihadist militants.
The report was signed by the Head, Intersociety, Emeka Umeagbalasi, and two human rights lawyers, Joy Igboeli and Ogochukwu Obi.
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