These terrorists became trapped in tunnels in the two southern cities. They are surrounded but attempt periodically to attack IDF soldiers. Since the ceasefire started, they have succeeded in killing three soldiers and wounding others. The IDF has eliminated many attackers, but many others remain in the tunnels. At the beginning of contacts, Hamas demanded passage in its own vehicles that would enter IDF territory and be escorted by the Red Cross to prevent harm. Subsequently, it agreed they would be transferred in Red Cross vehicles but demanded they keep their weapons.

Israel Hayom revealed Israel demanded the terrorists leave their weapons behind. Additional conditions that were set included Hamas committing to halt the attacks and maintain the ceasefire. Most critically, Hamas would return all bodies of the kidnapped fallen soldiers, again as written in the Sharm agreement.

According to information Israel has, Hamas has access to nearly or all the bodies and is withholding their return to gain advantages in negotiations. Israel also demanded an update on progress implementing the second phase, which includes Hamas disarming. During the contacts, Israel has conveyed a clarification to Hamas that if the attacks don't cease, all these terrorists will be eliminated and buried beneath the tunnel rubble.

However, Hamas has refused the condition of leaving weapons behind, claimed it has no control or contact with the terrorists in question, and regarding the kidnapped fallen soldiers, continues to assert that extracting the bodies requires engineering tools it doesn't possess. This response, combined with public pressure in Israel, led to the prime minister's announcement at midday that he will not permit safe passage of 200 Hamas terrorists and continues his firm position of disarming Hamas and demilitarizing the Strip, while thwarting terror threats against our forces.

The significance is that the IDF is expected to intensify its operations in areas under its control against those terrorists, exposing hiding places and eliminating them. On the diplomatic level, the Americans are trying to delay such intense operations to prevent collapse of the ceasefire. Another consideration in the delay is continued searches for fallen kidnapped soldiers in various locations in the Strip.

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Video: The footage showing the Hamas deception

The report said the drone identified suspicious activity when a Hamas tractor started digging a pit in the area. Terrorists then took the body of an Israeli fallen soldier from a nearby structure, put it in the freshly dug pit, and started covering it with dirt. The organization then called the Red Cross to the site and showed them the "retrieval" of the body from the fresh grave.

The footage streamed live to the joint command center in Kiryat Gat and was sent to the Americans. The immediate response was stopping Hamas operatives from entering Israeli-controlled territory. They had entered unarmed and "searched" with the Red Cross and Egyptian officials.

The footage exists but hasn't been released. Soldiers confirmed the entire sequence was fully documented by the IDF drone. The military has not released the material.

Despite Israel's documentary evidence, international pressure on the organization stays limited. Right now, the main sanction is closing the Rafah crossing. Israel has more tools available to increase pressure but doesn't use them at this stage.

The hope is that the field documentation, if and when released, will show the world Hamas' manipulative methods and attempts to distort reality before international actors.

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Israeli assessments indicate Hamas can immediately transfer five deceased hostages of out of the remaining 13, with several more requiring additional effort to locate.

More than 100 Gaza border residents gathered to honor the casket of the deceased hostage as the convoy passed through the Nahal Oz junction, including Yael Adar, mother of Tamir Adar whose body was returned six days ago in the previous pulse. "I came here to receive whoever arrives," Yael Adar said. "I wish I could receive all thirteen today. I know how moved I was when they received the convoy when Tamir arrived, and when I discovered after the fact it was him. I understood this is the least I can do for the others. I'll be here until the last hostage. I stand with the families."

A diplomatic source announced Monday that one of 13 deceased hostages would be returned to Israel overnight but the handover, it turns out, was apparently, either deliberately or accidentally was not that of a hostage.

Hamas officially confirmed the deceased hostage would be handed over to Israel through the Red Cross. A source in Hamas's military wing told Al-Jazeera that during searches Tuesday a deceased hostage was found in the at-Tuffah neighborhood and coordination was underway with the Red Cross regarding transfer.

Earlier, Prime Minister's Office spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said, "Israel has been committed to this ceasefire plan for more than two weeks, and so has Hamas. Hamas violated the agreement and did not return all our hostages. Israel received only the bodies of 15 out of 28 murdered hostages. And in the past five days we have received nothing from Hamas. Promises and commitments have been broken. Hamas is still a terrorist organization, and its only motivation for holding the bodies of murdered hostages is to continue torturing their families."

She added, "Hamas committed to President Trump and other Arab leaders that it would stand by this plan, which includes in the first phase the release of all our remaining hostages. Hamas knows where they are located, and there is no other possibility but to return them home. An Egyptian technical team is currently in Gaza to assist in searching for the bodies of the hostages. The team will bring additional equipment to help locate the hostages, including tractor-type vehicles. The Red Cross, the Egyptian technical team and Hamas personnel also received approval to enter beyond the IDF's yellow line in Gaza under close IDF supervision, in order to identify the location of our hostages. Hamas kidnapped them and murdered them. Israel demands the terrorist organization locate them."

US President Donald Trump wrote Saturday evening on his TRUTH account that "We have a very strong PEACE in the Middle East, and I believe it has a good chance of being EVERLASTING," but added a direct warning to Hamas, "Hamas is going to have to start returning the bodies of the deceased hostages, including two Americans, quickly, or the other Countries involved in this GREAT PEACE will take action." Trump added, "Let's see what they do over the next 48 hours. I am watching this very closely.""

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Based on current assessments, the Israeli hostages are held in at least three separate locations across the Gaza Strip, and uncertainty persists over whether Hamas will gather them for a unified release or transfer them to the Red Cross at multiple sites.​

Security sources indicate Hamas has not yet transmitted to Israel the names of the deceased captives it intends to return.​ Simultaneously, Israeli security officials are tracking closely the enforcement mechanism American negotiators are presently formulating. On Friday, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner addressed the matter with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and on Saturday the subject arose during discussions between the two senior American envoys and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.​

Israel's goal is for the developing mechanism to mirror the framework established in Lebanon, though substantial differences between the two theaters may hinder this objective.​

Who becomes the enforcer?

First, Lebanon functions as a sovereign state, allowing Israeli grievances relayed through the Americans to reach the Lebanese government and Lebanese Armed Forces, which bear enforcement responsibility. In Gaza, however, no governing authority exists apart from Hamas, leaving unclear whether and how Israeli complaints will be addressed and enforced.​

Second, Israel successfully imposed an on-the-ground enforcement doctrine in Lebanon against every breach – targeting not merely immediate dangers but also weapons accumulation. In Gaza, Israel may lack this capability given the commitments it made in the agreement, particularly as the deployment of foreign personnel from nations including the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Turkey and others may restrict Israeli actions.​

In the interim, until tomorrow morning, Israeli Air Force operational guidelines remain exceptionally stringent, as avoiding any risk to the hostage release remains paramount throughout Israel.​

Following their release and return to Israel, the nation will transition into a phase of establishing security arrangements with Hamas. Israel's fundamental priority is Gaza demilitarization and operations against any weapons buildup, regardless of scale. An additional unresolved matter will inevitably be determining Gaza's future governance.​

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For years, the international community voiced skepticism about claims regarding Hamas' use of hospitals. In the documents, which are dated February and March 2020, Hamas declares unequivocally that health facilities in Gaza are not neutral zones but instead play a crucial role in its terror network – as assembly points for terrorists, as locations for storing military equipment, and as sites with security and intelligence value. It also comes to light that senior Hamas officials were frequently present at these facilities.

For example, the documents indicate that Hamas was concerned that "hostile parties" would collect intelligence on medical facilities, given that they "serve as places where the wounded... who hold sensitive positions in the resistance... are gathered in during times of escalation." Medical facilities were also designated as "gathering for many commanders of the movement [i.e. Hamas] and the government in times of escalation."

The documents mention that the Red Cross "has chosen [to operate] in a wing inside Al-Shifa Hospital that is adjacent to the [Hamas] movement's offices." Furthermore, it is revealed that Hamas set up a secure communications infrastructure inside hospitals, even within spaces where non-governmental organizations were active. For instance, "Doctors Without Borders (MSF) France chose the only room in Abu Yousef El-Najar Hospital that has a (safe) communication landline which belongs to the positive's activity (a moniker for Hamas' military wing)... in order for MSF to work in it separately," it was written.

It also comes to light that Hamas placed severe limitations on foreign medical delegations to inhibit the exposure of the organization's use of hospitals. A document notes that "much of the services provided have a security aspect to them since these involve people wounded as a result  of the occupation's aggression and burns, mainly resistance members or activists [in Hamas-guided operations]." Additionally, it was determined that foreign medical teams would be allowed to operate only in designated, pre-authorized areas. "The Ministry of Health permits medical delegations to move in specific places... but it prohibits movement within the hospital where the delegation is active."

Hamas also insisted that "work should not be conducted with medical delegations if senior resistance officials are (present), and regarding the simple operatives (of Hamas), caution should be taken." It was also noted that "medical members [of Hamas] from Gaza will join incoming delegations, whether they work in hospitals and their [NGOs] designated locations"

The documents enumerate the names of the non-governmental organizations and international agencies active inside Gaza's hospitals – and the reality that they function according to Hamas' directives.

"The evidence of complicity is blatant," said Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor. "This document exposes the hypocrisy of supposedly humanitarian international organizations like the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders and the Norwegian Aid Committee (NORWAC). While repeatedly echoing Hamas allegations and condemning Israel's operations to end the exploitation of hospitals for terror, these groups clearly knew that Hamas exploited these facilities, and chose to remain silent. To make hospitals in Gaza safe for everyone, the NGO and UN code of silence must be broken."

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The citizen, Salah Abu-Hussein, was held in Lebanon for approximately one year. Following negotiations conducted in recent months with the assistance of the Red Cross, he was transferred to Israel at the Rosh Hanikra crossing from Lebanese authorities to the Coordinator of Prisoners and Missing Persons Gal Hirsch.

After initial questioning and a preliminary medical examination, he was transferred by the IDF to a hospital for comprehensive medical evaluations, after which he will reunite with his family.

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Hamas's response, delivered on Monday, likely deliberately ignored the US framework proposed over the weekend, which includes immediate deployment of international forces to areas evacuated by the IDF to prevent terrorists from regaining control. The framework also initiates the transfer of civilian administration from Hamas during the ceasefire, even before final agreements are reached, effectively forcing Hamas to relinquish this control to other entities. The goal is to remove Gaza's civilian population from the conflict equation, end dependence on Hamas – which loots food shipments – and begin Gaza's reconstruction. These entities are international organizations with broad support, including from the UN, which have already started preparations. This includes a structured plan covering health, education, temporary housing, and more.

An international security force, including American and Emirati troops, would enter key areas evacuated by the IDF to prevent Hamas from reestablishing control, planting explosives, or preparing for IDF reentry. Hamas did not address this point, but Al-Akhbar reported that Cairo rejects the idea of deploying an Arab or international force in Gaza. Instead, Egypt and Qatar advocate for a Palestinian technocratic committee to indirectly involve the Palestinian Authority. Egypt has begun training hundreds of Palestinians, mostly from Gaza, to form a future Gaza police force to replace Hamas.

According to a diplomatic source, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia support the US position, taking a central role in Gaza's reconstruction and processes like deradicalization in Palestinian education and society. Israel prefers this option, as it partially addresses security concerns from withdrawal and reduces risks to IDF soldiers. A remaining dispute is Hamas's refusal to allow Red Cross visits to hostages or provide full information on their condition. Hamas only commits to providing necessary medical care, food, and water.

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Many of us who closely followed the hostage releases have yet to recover from the traumatic scenes we witnessed a couple weeks ago. Ohad Ben Ami, Or Levy, and Eli Sharabi – pale, weak, and emaciated – were unable to walk on their own. Yet, masked terrorists paraded them like trophies, forcing them onto a grotesque stage, compelling them to thank their captors and pretend they had been treated well.

We had to watch in horror as Hamas, in a live broadcast, forced a starved Eli Sharabi to speak into a microphone and express his supposed excitement about returning home to his wife and daughters – knowing full well that Hamas had slaughtered his wife, Lianne, and their teenage daughters, Noiya and Yahel, on October 7 in Kibbutz Be'eri, inside their safe room.

It is unjust, brutal, and inhumane – something that would have made Joseph Goebbels proud.

Goebbels served as the Reich Minister of Propaganda for Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945 and was one of Adolf Hitler's closest and most devoted associates. A master manipulator of public opinion, he controlled the Nazi propaganda machine, using mass media, film, literature, and public rallies to spread antisemitic ideology and justify the Holocaust. Goebbels was instrumental in dehumanizing Jews, portraying them as subhuman threats to Germany, thus facilitating their persecution and eventual extermination. His ability to distort reality and manufacture hatred laid the groundwork for the atrocities of the Nazi regime.

Hamas, like Goebbels, understands the power of propaganda theater. Every hostage release is meticulously choreographed – not to expose their crimes, but to shift global sympathy away from the victims. When Jewish hostages – abducted from their homes, held underground for over 500 days, and starved to the brink of death – are finally released, Hamas ensures that their suffering is framed not as an atrocity but as a mere footnote in a so-called "resistance." The world watches – some with horror, others with apathy – as this grotesque display of Jewish suffering is repackaged for political consumption.

Just last week, its propaganda show included satellite images of the kibbutzim they invaded and massacred on October 7, marked with targets and the words "We crossed over swiftly." Yet somehow, these sick terrorists have convinced "useful idiots" in the West that they are the victims of genocide, all while deploying Nazi propaganda tactics that expose their true genocidal intentions against Israelis. Hamas has even included the Red Cross in its theatrics, attempting to use a global humanitarian organization to legitimize its actions.

Goebbels mastered this art in Nazi Germany, saturating the media with images and narratives that painted Jews as subhuman. As a result, the world could look at starved Jewish bodies in ghettos and concentration camps and perceive them not as victims of Nazi cruelty but as part of some twisted "greater good." This insidious framing normalized their persecution and, eventually, their extermination.

Hamas employs the same propaganda tactics. The terrorists kidnap Jewish civilians, deprive them of food, light, and medical care from the Red Cross and other international organizations. Then, when releasing them in a frail, broken state, they force them to act as if they were treated with kindness. Their propaganda machine turns hostages into pawns, coercing them to smile for the cameras or praise their captors under duress – just as Goebbels' propaganda films depicted Jews as supposedly content laborers in concentration camps. Meanwhile, much of the media plays along, reporting on these grotesque spectacles without exposing the deeper horror: Hamas's systemic abuse and the world's complicity in tolerating it.

The fundamental lesson here is that the world has learned nothing. The images of frail, broken Jewish hostages should ignite global outrage – just as they did when the gates of Auschwitz were opened. Instead, too many justify, rationalize, or ignore. Hamas, like the Nazi regime before them, relies on this moral failure and on the useful idiots in the West to continue their campaign.

Goebbels understood that propaganda was the key to making the unthinkable seem inevitable. Hamas is following his blueprint – and succeeding. Its goal is not just to kill Jews but to make their suffering appear ordinary, to ensure that images of malnourished, abused, and degraded hostages do not provoke action. This is why its propaganda must be exposed for what it is: the continuation of a genocidal tradition that the world swore it would never allow again.

The question is no longer whether Hamas is a terrorist organization. It is whether we will allow it to rewrite reality, just as Goebbels once did.

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"We have not been able to discover any trace of installations for exterminating civilian prisoners." That is what the Red Cross published on Nov. 22, 1944, after visiting the Auschwitz II-Birkenau death camp, where 1.1 million people were murdered.

The same humanitarian organization has proven too many times in the last fifteen months that when it comes to Jews, they are simply useless. On live television, the world saw exactly who the Red Cross answers to in Gaza, and it isn't to the principles of impartiality, humanity, or justice they claim to uphold.

Over the weekend, Jews were once again subjected to watching the release of our female hostages turn into spectacles of intimidation and dehumanization. Thousands of Gazans gathered in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza, chanting antisemitic slurs, whipping out their phones to film the female hostages as if they were at a Coachella concert. Three young innocent Jewish girls, surrounded by hundreds of masked Hamas operatives who had finally stopped dressing up as civilians, participated in a propaganda show for the world to see.

The Red Cross shows up, seeing these hostages for the first time in 471 days, while crowds of Palestinians attempted to break into their vans to lynch Doron, Emily, and Romi. Gunned Hamas operatives stood on the roof of Red Cross vehicles. I am unaware of any other warzone where the Red Cross allows armed gunmen to stand atop its vehicles with hostages inside. The photos of Hamas and the Red Cross tell you everything you need to know about Hamas' war strategy. The terrorist organization exploits and weaponizes humanitarian organizations that claim to be "neutral."

All of it is disgusting and completely unjust. The certificates that Hamas made the Red Cross sign, the "going home bags" Hamas gave to the female hostages filled with photos of their captivity and maps of Gaza as if they were leaving some resort – all of it is so sickening that our stomachs have been in knots for days.

How the Red Cross has handled this hostage crisis, in comparison to how they have handled others in the past, only reiterates how useless they are here. The organization visited the American hostages in the occupied US embassy in Iran in 1979 and provided food and medical assistance to Japanese hostages kidnapped by guerrilla forces in Peru. They even delivered a letter to a New York Times reporter held hostage by the Taliban. Yet, for 473 days, the most the Red Cross has done for the hostages in Gaza is act as a taxi service upon their release from captivity.

In a recent "coincidental" social media post, the Red Cross published a video explaining why they remain silent when dealing with armed groups to access vulnerable civilians who need it most. Yet, their silence on Hamas' atrocities has clearly not worked. They have delivered no food, have not seen the hostages once, and have failed to provide families with even proof of life of the captives in Gaza.

Some might claim that criticisms of the Red Cross are harsh, that they have every intention of wanting to help the hostages but are unable to because Hamas refuses access. In a conversation with a hostage family whose loved one was eventually murdered by Hamas, the Red Cross told them they could not exert diplomatic pressure on Hamas or leverage their aid efforts for access to the hostages because it is against their policy to use aid as leverage. This policy simply shows that their approach does not work. It reveals them as another organization surviving on donations and a reputation for "good work" while failing to deliver in the most critical situations. Any organization can drive a truck into Gaza to pick up hostages; the Red Cross lacks the mechanisms to deal with jihadist groups like Hamas.

The Red Cross has failed its own mission because its policies are not designed to address jihadists whose mandate is self-sacrifice at the expense of their own people. This mirrors the inadequacy of international law in dealing with non-state terror entities. The Red Cross and similar agencies lack the tools to be effective when facing the genocidal death cult that rules Gaza. Hamas knows this and exploits it.

We cannot live in a world where terrorists evade accountability because organizations want to be "neutral" or "impartial." Such inaction and silence ultimately side with oppressive regimes and terror organizations. The Red Cross has not learned from its historical failures during the Holocaust, and its conduct in Gaza only reinforces its pattern of selective morality, undermining its credibility in crises involving Jewish victims.

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Israel's coronavirus infections rate stands at 1.73%, according to Health Ministry data. Of the 105,742 people who tested for the virus Wednesday, 1,732 were found to have contracted the disease. The reproduction rate is 0.75.

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The average daily number of new infections this week is 1,816 compared to 3,034 last week.

Israel has 22,107 active cases of the virus. There are 403 people in serious condition, the lowest number recorded since Aug. 10. Of those in serious condition, 168 are on ventilators.

Although 1,281,882 Israelis have recovered from the virus since the outbreak of the pandemic, 7,959 have died.

Seventy-five percent of those in serious condition are unvaccinated, according to Health Ministry data.

On the vaccination front, 3,797,909 Israelis have received all three available doses of the coronavirus vaccine. Over 6 million Israelis – 6,195,018 – have received at least one dose, while 5,692,325 have received two doses of the vaccine.

While Israel has been a pioneer on the vaccination front, the tiny Pacific nation of Palau has the world's highest percentage of people vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data released by the Red Cross on Thursday.

Fully 99% of Palau's population over 12 has had both shots of vaccine for the new coronavirus, the International Federation of Red Cross said, citing government figures that also show that this amounts to 16,152 people.

That puts Palau, an archipelago of 500 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, in the "top spot," the IFRC said in a statement.

It also presents a stark contrast with other small nations in the region that have had sluggish vaccine rollouts due to supply constraints and population hesitancy. Less than 10% of the Solomon Islands (population 650,000) and Kiribati (population 119,000) is vaccinated, the IFRC said.

In Papua New Guinea, 150 km (93 miles) north of Australia, less than 1% of the population is fully vaccinated, it added, citing Our World in Data figures.

The urgency of increasing vaccination rates in the region was increased by the coming Pacific cyclone season, which could cause more damage to livelihoods already impacted by the pandemic, the IFRC said.

Palau was not alone among the Pacific nations that are leading the world in vaccination rates, on a per capita basis. The Cook Islands (population 17,000) had 96% of its eligible population fully vaccinated, while Fiji (population 896,000) had 96% of eligible people with one dose, the IFRC said.

As coronavirus vaccines trickle into some of the poorest countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, data suggest some women are consistently missing out.

Experts fear women in Africa may be the least vaccinated population globally, thanks in large part to widespread misinformation and vaccine skepticism across the continent. But vaccine access issues and gender inequality reach far beyond Africa, with women in impoverished communities worldwide facing obstacles including cultural prejudices, lack of technology, and vaccine prioritization lists that didn't include them. And while global data by gender in vaccine distribution is lacking in many places, officials agree that women are clearly being left behind men in some places and that the issue must be addressed for the world to move past the pandemic.

Whether women had early access to vaccines was often determined by how countries gave out their first doses. Sarah Hawkes, who runs a global tracker of coronavirus information by sex at University College London, noted that Pakistan and other countries prioritized groups such as the military and migrant workers, likely contributing to continued gender gaps.

In deeply conservative and impoverished parts of India and Timor-Leste, women have received only about 35% of vaccines, according to early figures collected by governments and non-governmental groups.

In Lebanon, as in much of the Middle East, women were initially shielded from COVID-19 because they were more likely to follow social distancing guidelines, said Dr. Sasha Fahme, a women's health researcher at the American University in Beirut.

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