Three young Israeli snowboarders who became stranded on the snow-covered slopes of Mount Hakuba in northern Japan were successfully rescued Tuesday morning, emerging from their ordeal with minor frostbite. The group was immediately reunited with Israeli Consul Avinoam Mizrachi who had been coordinating rescue efforts.

Israeli Ambassador to Japan Gilad Cohen provided details of the intensive rescue operation, "Throughout the night and morning hours, our embassy staff worked tirelessly around the clock, coordinating with all relevant Japanese authorities and the US Ambassador. The consul personally traveled to the site and has just met with the rescued individuals. We are relieved that our concentrated efforts proved successful and our three young men were brought to safety."

The successful extraction was carried out by an experienced Japanese rescue team, who safely brought the snowboarders down the mountain where they met with the consul who had been anxiously awaiting their arrival.

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In a remarkable display of loyalty and intelligence, a devoted dog recently played a crucial role in saving its owner's life after a horrific car accident in Oregon. According to a Facebook post by the Baker County Sheriff's Office, the incident unfolded when officials received a report about "a vehicle over an embankment on US Forest Service Road 39."

The report explained that Brandon Garrett, the vehicle's owner, had not arrived at his camp the previous afternoon as expected. Garrett's family members located the crashed vehicle in the morning but were unable to reach it due to the challenging terrain. That's when one of Garrett's four dogs took heroic action.

"One of his dogs traveled the nearly four miles to their camp, which alerted the rest of the party that something was wrong," the sheriff's office stated. The dog's determination and perseverance in covering such a distance to seek assistance proved invaluable.

Haunting images from the scene depict Garrett's truck flipped on its side amid a rocky creek bed. The Baker County Search and Rescue Ropes Team swiftly deployed their rescue equipment and undertook the arduous task of reaching the stranded victim.

"Once the team was able to reach him, they loaded and secured him in a rescue basket," the post explained. Garrett was then connected to a high-line rope system and pulled across the ravine, where he was transferred to medical personnel and airlifted to a regional hospital.

The investigation revealed that Garrett, accompanied by his four dogs, had "failed to negotiate a curve, causing the vehicle to plummet off the embankment." Despite the harrowing ordeal, Garrett managed to crawl approximately 100 yards from the wreckage, where he spent the night until his family located the crash site the following morning. Remarkably, all four of Garrett's loyal companions survived the crash, with the three remaining dogs found alive at the scene.

Residents praised the first responders' efforts and paid tribute to the extraordinary actions of the dogs, with one commenter stating, "All four dogs are heroes, especially the dog with great memory who ran four miles back to camp and alerted the family." Another remarked, "Amazing. Thankful for this outcome. Somebody get that dog a bone, he saved his person."

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Less than a week ago, Israel and the world were stunned by the heroic IDF operation leading to the rescue of the four hostages Andrey Kozlov, 27, Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir Jan, 21, and Shlomi Ziv, 40 held at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas terror group.

In a candid interview with Israel Hayom, Kozlov's parents – Michael and Yevgenia – recalled the emotional reunion with their son, who was abducted at the Nova music festival, where he worked as a security guard, and spoke about his lengthy ordeal in captivity, and the dramatic moment he realized rescue was underway.

Q: What was it like seeing Andrey for the first time upon his rescue?

Yevgenia: "Our initial conversation with Andrey was via video as we had not yet returned to Israel. Alongside immense joy, difficult to articulate, we felt trepidation about what, or rather who, we would encounter.

"We were convinced that after eight months in captivity, subjected to unimaginable horrors and trauma, we would fail to recognize him. I was terribly apprehensive about the state my son would be in after that prolonged period. Before he appeared on screen, I covered my mouth in sheer fear, blankly staring at the monitor."

"Then, abruptly, I saw him – Andrey. His eyes were wide open as he exclaimed, 'Mom, I survived twice. Mom, I'm fine, everything's okay, don't worry.' He likely feared our distress, aiming firstly to reassure us," she recounted with a smile.

"He continued, 'Mom, I knew I'd return, and now all will be well. Daily I thought of you, conversed with you in my mind, confident I'd rejoin you. Mom, don't worry, just don't.' Though attempting to comfort me, I witnessed the gamut of emotions overwhelming him at that moment, the entire ordeal etched on his face. It was profoundly moving.

"I strived to smile and remain calm for his benefit, to ease his burden. And indeed, after a few minutes, I began to perceive my son as he once was, he even started cracking jokes! His sole wish was to continue conversing with us, which we reciprocated."

Q: Did he tell you about his time in captivity?

Michael: "To recount his entire eight-month experience would require far more than a single interview. He recounted his ordeal at length, yet seemingly striving not to overwhelm us excessively, he endeavored to keep matters light with humor and optimism, even when describing terrifying, unimaginable adversity.

"For instance, he revealed that for the initial two months, his captors restrained him with hands tied behind his back, depicting how he contorted himself merely to eat. With mordant humor, he told us how fortunate he was to be so flexible, as it enabled him to eat with his hands rather than like an animal.

"He laughed at his luck when the terrorists eventually tied his hands in the front, and that his conditions were relatively decent as they occasionally permitted bathroom use, unlike other hostages, who were provided only with buckets in their rooms. These accounts are utterly deranged, yet he strove to recount them lightheartedly to ease our burden."

Yevgenia added, "He described the psychological torment his captors inflicted on him and fellow hostages. Comments like 'your girlfriend has surely moved on, your parents know nothing of you, and Israel has forgotten you they won't save you. The army actually wants you dead.

"Andrey revealed this was among the terrorists' key aims – constantly attempting to convince them Israel did not truly care, that no rescue was coming, that contrarily, the nation preferred them dead to resolve this hostages issue.'"

"Yet throughout, Andrey and his fellow hostages strove to bolster and assist one another. They conversed constantly, preventing one another from descending into despair's depths. Initially, it was immensely challenging for him as his Hebrew and English were poor, and the terrorists prohibited Hebrew.

"On one hand, I heard my son recount these events like a story, with optimism and humor, yet internally I grasped the enormity of the atrocity, tragedy, and unimaginable ordeals he endured over those long months, leaving indelible scars on him and us."

"As a mother, hearing your son say 'there are things I can never tell you' is heart-shattering, truly comprehending this entire event's profound gravity."

Q: What was the moment the IDF arrived to rescue Andrey like?

Michael: "Truthfully, even before he shared the details with us, we gathered in his hospital room to view the footage captured by the soldiers' bodycams. Until then, he had only seen videos uploaded by Gazan bloggers from a completely divergent perspective."

"The moment he witnessed the published footage, his emotions overwhelmed him uncontrollably. Covering his mouth, he exclaimed 'Yes, yes, that's me. That's really how it was, what I endured.' It was as if he relived it, truly processing his ordeal."

Yevgenia said, "Andrey revealed that realizing rescue was imminent, recognizing the fighters who came to extract him, he was utterly flooded with relief and calm. He said his sole desire was to embrace the rescuers, unwilling to relinquish that grasp. To him, they appeared not merely heroes, but truly superhuman.

"He still faces a lengthy road ahead, yet his optimism and fortitude fill us with immense pride. Not only did he avoid breaking under captivity despite the terrorists' efforts, he emerged stronger and more resilient."

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"It was like a movie, far beyond imagination, something from fantasy worlds. A Fauda-style rescue." This is how Staff Sergeant Eliav, an intelligence officer in the Kfir Brigade, described the brigade's role in the deception operation that preceded the heroic rescue of the four captives from the heart of the Gaza Strip. "Our brigade was the gateway to the attack, we were the strategy. Our part was extremely complex," said the 30-year-old staff sergeant from Ramat Gan.

The rescue operation of the four hostages was kept under tight secrecy, and Eliav was one of the few who knew about it a week before it was carried out. The Kfir Brigade's task was to prepare the ground for the operation. "We set up sniper ambushes, eliminated enemies, fired for deception, conducted patrols, and prepared routes for vehicles to pass through. We eliminated enemies in a quality manner. We fired several times in different locations to create deception and other actions that cannot be elaborated on. We did everything the special forces asked of us. We worked in a surgical and challenging way while maneuvering and attacking. We carried out a ruse, which we had to hide from some of the commanders and fighters. It was a complex mission," he said.

"We did significant planning, from the first moment I understood the purpose. There was no moment like this during the past eight months when we were in Shijaiyah, Khan Yunis, Jenin, and the northern border. There was no mission with such a purpose. I was very excited. The mission greatly strengthened my 'why.' When you know that what you're doing can free hostages – it's indescribable. It's crazy. It was exciting and nerve-wracking, and a heavy responsibility. The combination of our forces and the special forces shoulder-to-shoulder managing it on the ground."

Unlike Eliav from the Kfir Brigade, the commander of the Paratroopers' Reconnaissance Company, Staff Sergeant Roee, 28, from Neriya, was not in on the details of the operation on the eve of the operation but received instructions to prepare during the operation itself. "We played a significant role in the rescue of the hostages," he shared last night. "We were responsible for evacuating the vehicles of the operational force, the hostages, and the special forces. We transferred them to the helicopter pickup point."

"We knew our role was to respond to any event that unfolded there, during the rescue itself and in response to it," Roee said. According to him, in the early morning hours, his fighters advanced to a point where they could intervene quickly in the operation and evacuate if necessary. When the vehicle with the captives was hit, Staff Sergeant Roee and his fighters received an order to quickly advance inward to isolate the area and assist in the evacuation. "We went in several vehicles with special forces and evacuation forces. When we received the order, we drove as fast as possible to the point. The fighters fired to isolate the area for the evacuation of the special forces."

"We understood that a vehicle was stuck and responded as quickly as possible to the area. I was in the second vehicle that arrived. When we entered, we heard combat taking place. Due to the secrecy, we didn't really know the area we were entering. There was massive fire around us, a lot of air force strikes, fighter jets, and drones, the likes of which I hadn't heard of throughout the months of fighting. They created a kind of ring of fire. But we reached the area of the stuck vehicle, saved it, took over a house, and isolated the area for them. The  forces and the captives were disengaged, and a force from the brigade joined them and transferred them to a landing zone in another vehicle. We were the last ones to leave to make sure there were no injured forces. From the moment we received the 'proceed' order, it took only half an hour until we withdrew from there."

Staff Sergeant Roee understands the magnitude of the achievement and says emotionally: "We are after many months of fighting, injuries, and casualties to our forces. An event like this that ends with four people returning to their families – there is nothing more valuable, important, or joyful than that. It was an immense privilege to participate in this operation."

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Everyone is crying now, happy tears – that's for sure. Even Arad Nir cried on air when he broadcasted the initial footage of the meeting between the released hostage Noa Argamani and her father. Emotions were overflowing everywhere, affecting even the top presenters. Nir Dvori choked up in the studio, Almog Boker teared up, and so did Yaron Avraham. As a nation, we've recently become accustomed to receiving mainly bad news, so such a rare moment managed to shake even the most composed TV presenters.

"We had the Black Saturday [on Oct. 7], and now this is the joyful Saturday," shouted someone with a flag to the camera at one of the celebration sites reported by the channels. One by one, videos of lifeguards at the beach reporting to sunbathers about the rescue of the four hostages from Gaza flowed onto the screen, and the beachgoers, in swimsuits and with tan lines, cheered.

ערד ניר: "זה רגע שאנחנו כולנו צריכים להתייצב מאחורי צבא ההגנה לישראל ולהגיד - כל הכבוד לצה"ל!"@arad_nir pic.twitter.com/TepsoloTQZ

— החדשות - N12 (@N12News) June 8, 2024

Like an unbelievable Hollywood movie, Almog, Andrey, and Shlomi descended from a military helicopter, surrounded by brave soldiers, raising their hands in the air, with citizens' joyful cheers heard in the background. We searched for it for eight months, and finally, we found it – victory. For half a day, the channel studios broadcast a victory festival; they praised the soldiers, the IDF, the Shin Bet security agency, the police, the intelligence units, and the decision-makers in the government. They cheered, applauded, hugged, and rejoiced. For a few moments, it was easy to suppress the question of where they were on Oct. 7. For one day, suddenly, everyone volunteered to take responsibility. For one day, we were in paradise.

The joy was extraordinary because it reminded us, for a moment, of everything we aspire to be. A country with an all-powerful army that knows everything and is everywhere, with an empathetic prime minister who leaves his house to meet with families of the freed hostages, with systems that work together and aren't busy undermining each other. A country where right-wingers and left-wingers dance together in the streets to "Am Yisrael Chai," an atmosphere of national pride, true unity, and strategic victory, proving to the world that we Jews do not abandon our brothers and sisters. This is the picture of victory. For a few hours, on the joyful Shabbat, we were everything we dream of being as a nation, and how emotional that made us.

דברים שקורים לך רק כשאתה מדווח מאמצע קיבוץ ורק כשאתה @OrHeller : pic.twitter.com/Z901tavTGk

— Tal Shorrer (@TalShorrer) June 8, 2024

The day started much less elegantly. It was another chapter in the saga of "We know something we can't tell you," and all the studio guests played along in this game of hints for about an hour and a half – until the news was cleared for publication.

"If we broke into the broadcast and started reporting gradually, there's probably a reason for this," Yaron Avraham dropped a major hint. Almog Boker added, "You can smile or shed a tear of excitement over what happened in the last few hours, even though we still can't tell. But I ask, don't rely on WhatsApp messages"; and Or Heller tore off the mask and said, "I can really say I'm excited – if I'm allowed to say – by the news that is about to come. We are aware of rumors and publications on WhatsApp, and we urge you to be patient and let those who need to announce it do so."

The law defines the use of inside information (in the context of publicly traded companies) to gain profits as a criminal offense with prison sentences. This is no different from what the commercial channels did - they traded in inside information, which was prohibited from publication at that time for clear reasons - just to inflate their ratings.

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Israeli security officials believe the IDF's resounding success on Saturday in freeing four hostages held by Hamas could pressure the terrorist group to return to negotiations over a broader exchange deal, according to analysts.

The sources assess that Hamas understands it is "losing assets" by stalling its response to the proposal, increasing the incentive to engage. A diplomatic official also said the chances for an agreement were not diminished by Israel's unilateral efforts to release the captives.

Video: Noa Argamani rescued from Gaza in a helicopter / Credit: IDF Spokesperson's Unit

Of the four freed captives, three were not initially included in the first phase of the potential swap being discussed. Noa Argamani, whose case garnered public attention due to her mother's ill health, was also omitted from the initial list of 33 names slated for that first release, officials said.

Ultimately, Israeli leaders insisted Argamani be added before approving the deal with mediators. The last-minute negotiations delayed a Cabinet meeting planned for Thursday evening as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant received updates from security chiefs coordinating the Gaza operation.

While ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir, Aryeh Deri and Benny Gantz were briefed, only Netanyahu and Gallant authorized the final green light, according to the reports.

A potential swap deal would see Israel release Palestinians imprisoned for terrorist activity in exchange for Hamas returning the hostages it took captive on Oct. 7 – mostly civilians, including the elderly, women, and children.

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They move from place to place at a moment's notice in a desperate bid to evade the Taliban – girls whose lives are in danger simply because they chose to play a sport they loved.

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An international effort to evacuate members of the Afghanistan national girls soccer team, along with dozens of family members and soccer federation staff, suffered a crushing setback last week after a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport killed 169 Afghans and 13 US service members during a harrowing airlift.

Now, frightened and desperate, the girls worry whether a far-flung coalition of former US military and intelligence officials, congressmen, US allies, humanitarian groups and the captain of the Afghanistan women's national team can get them and their loved ones to safety.

"They're just unbelievable young ladies who should be playing in the backyard, playing on the swing set, playing with their friends, and here they're in a very bad situation for doing nothing more than playing soccer," said Robert McCreary, a former congressional chief of staff and White House official under President George W. Bush who has worked with special forces in Afghanistan. "We need to do everything that we can to protect them, to get them to a safe situation."

According to the Jewish Telegraph Agency, one such effort, which had initially focused on extracting Afghanistan's last remaining Jew from Kabul, shifted its focus to saving female soccer players after Zebulon Simantov rejected the offers to fly him to safety.

Simantov, according to the JTA, refused to leave Afghanistan because of his longstanding refusal to grant his Israeli wife a get, or divorce. Simantov reportedly feared facing Israel's legal system, which penalizes such a refusal.

Most members of the Afghan women's team, formed in 2007, were evacuated to Australia last week.

But the girls, ages 14-16, and their families also could be targeted by the Taliban – not just because women and girls are forbidden to play sports, but because they were advocates for girls and active members of their communities, said Farkhunda Muhtaj, who is captain of the Afghanistan women's national team and lives in Canada.

"They are devastated. They're hopeless, considering the situation they're in," said Muhtaj, who keeps in contact with the girls and urges them to stay calm.

There have been at least five failed attempts to rescue the girls in recent days, as they were moved around for their safety, McCreary and Muhtaj said. They were "footsteps from freedom" when the suicide bombing occurred, Muhtaj said.

Complicating the rescue effort is the size of the group – 133 people, including the 26 youth team members as well as adults and other children, including infants. Many don't have passports or other necessary documentation to board flights from Kabul.

McCreary said the mission – called Operation Soccer Balls – is working with other countries, with the hope the girls will eventually settle in the US. He said Australia, France and Qatar have expressed interest in helping. He also urged the Taliban to ease the exit for the group, saying it would create goodwill.

"If we can put a protective bubble around these women and young girls ... I really believe the world will stand up and and take notice and have a lot of offers to take them in and host them," McCreary said.

Former US women's national soccer team captain Julie Foudy, a two-time World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, said the rescue efforts "raise the visibility of these young women and their importance to equality and democracy and all these things that we value in this country."

"As many of us who can stand up as female athletes – as humans – and say, 'This is a moment we need to come together and do what's right,' then we absolutely should," she said.

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Nic McKinley, a CIA and Air Force veteran who founded Dallas-based DeliverFund, a nonprofit that's secured housing for 50 Afghan families, said he understood that the US was focused on relocating Afghans who helped American forces, but that others need help, too.

"What about the little girl who just wants to kick a ball around a field and wants to do that well, and has worked hard to do that at a world class level who finds herself suddenly in jeopardy only because she just wanted to play a sport and had a passion for playing that sport?" he said. "The only thing that they had done wrong in the eyes of the Taliban ... is the fact that they were born girls and they had the audacity to dream of doing something."

McCreary said the rescue team feels personally responsible because the US helped the girls go to school and play soccer.

"We need to protect them now," he said. "They should not be in harm's way for things that we helped them do."

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