A "Survivor" contestant made an extraordinary discovery during her participation in the show. In a dramatic twist that caught even seasoned reality TV producers off guard, a contestant in the Israeli production of "Survivor," Yana Berski, one of the show's most compelling participants, learned she was pregnant while filming in the Philippines – a condition that had persisted throughout her entire island stay.

According to a production source, all contestants underwent routine blood tests three weeks before filming commenced, with Berski receiving a negative result. However, suspicions emerged when she exhibited an unusual pattern: while other contestants experienced typical weight loss, Berski notably gained weight. Additionally, she missed her menstrual cycle, though this was initially dismissed as a natural response to the island's challenging conditions. Following her own suspicions, Berski requested a pregnancy test from production. The team promptly accommodated her request, and minutes later, received the confirmatory result. "Morning sickness and vomiting became part of her daily routine," the source revealed. "The situation was so unprecedented that it never crossed our minds as a possibility."

After the revelation, Berski was immediately transported to a Philippines hospital for comprehensive testing, which definitively confirmed her pregnancy. Despite being offered the opportunity to exit the show, she made the determined choice to continue competing. However, the story took a tragic turn. Upon returning to Israel, Berski experienced a miscarriage, with the harsh conditions during her early pregnancy likely contributing to the loss. This marks the first instance worldwide of pregnancy during "Survivor" filming – a situation typically prevented by strict casting protocols. When approached for comment, the Israeli Survival production team stated: "We do not comment on contestants' personal matters."

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They infiltrated peaceful towns, setting homes ablaze and subjecting families to the horrors of abduction, annihilation, and unfathomable variations of torture and cruelty. They continued their massacre to a vibrant music festival, claiming the lives of hundreds of individuals.

The October7.org website gathered the testimonies of survivors who bore witness to the unspeakable terrors of that day. These are some of their stories.

Warning: Some of these stories are extremely difficult and describe war crimes involving violence, rape, and brutality. Reader discretion is advised.

How did it all start?

I was the officer on duty over the weekend with just 13 soldiers on the Urim Southern District Base. Everything was quiet and peaceful as usual.

At 6:30 in the morning, there were sirens and missiles, so we ran straight to the migunit [concrete doorless bomb shelter] in the dormitories, in flip flops, pajamas, and with a weapon. We waited there a bit and then started to hear rumors that terrorists had infiltrated, but we didn't believe it. But then we started to hear shots being fired.

We decided that we wouldn't stay put in the migunit and we ran to the Operations Room, the most protected area on the base.

At first, those already inside wouldn't open the door of the Operations Room for me because they had already closed it, and likely because they were also scared of the terrorists who were behind me. I had no choice but to go outside again and run to the back entrance of the Operations Room. Then, they opened the door for me there. When I got inside, we bandaged my leg with a shirt from one of the Operations Sergeants and we waited to be rescued. Unfortunately, rescue was nowhere on the horizon.

Then we started to hear the terrorists detonating explosives around the Operations Room as they attempted to get inside.  For half an hour we heard shooting and grenades. All we could do was pray for the best. They got through door after door, until the only door left was the one that separated us from them. All this time we were hiding under a table, one on top of the other.

I started sending goodbye messages to all of my loved ones.

They blew up the last door, came into the room, and shot a volley of bullets at us without pause, screaming. When they were done, they waited a little, spoke in Arabic, searched for documents, checked that we were dead, and then left.

I lay there bleeding between the bodies of my friends, when suddenly I felt someone breathing. It was my friend Sahar. We waited there for 4 hours together until rescue arrived, during which time she took off her uniform to give me first aid. I began to touch my whole body to see where I was hit, how much I was bleeding, and how much time I had left to live. I felt like I was dying.

Then after four hours of playing dead, while I was in so much pain that I couldn't say a word, angels came to save me. They took me to Soroka hospital [in Beersheba] and on the way I immediately asked to call my family and tell them that I was alive against all odds!

First, I was taken to the ER. Then I was moved to Shaare Zedek [Medical Center in Jerusalem] where I had 2 operations. After 2 weeks, I was transferred to Tel Hashomer [in Ramat Gan] for rehabilitation.

I had been shot 12 times — bullets in my legs, my left hand and my shoulder. I thank God who watched over me and was with me in that room. I still can't believe that I am here, that I am alive, and God willing I should be able to regain full function.

It is simply a miracle.

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The number of Holocaust survivors living in Israel stands at nearly 150,000, according to statistics published on Sunday by the Holocaust Survivors' Rights Authority ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

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The 147,199 Holocaust survivors residing in the Jewish state include 521 new immigrants from war-torn Ukraine who last year were recognized as survivors of the Nazi genocide.

Holocaust Remembrance Day, an annual event in Israel commemorating the six million Jews murdered by the Germans and their collaborators, and those who fought back and partook in rescue efforts, takes place this year from Monday evening until the following evening. The somber day features a two-minute siren at 10 a.m. local time when the country comes to a standstill.

One of the central themes of this year's commemoration is Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, as the world marks 80 years since the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

According to data, 1,161 of the 147,199 Holocaust survivors are over the age of 100. Around 31,000 are more than 90 years old. The average age of survivors is 85, with the oldest being 118 years of age and the youngest – 76.

Haifa is home to the largest population of Shoah survivors in Israel, followed by Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Some 63% of Holocaust survivors in Israel were born in Europe. Significant numbers of Holocaust survivors came from outside of Europe, including Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Iraq.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Israel will begin observing the Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday evening with a state ceremony at the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog are scheduled to speak at the event. In light of the weekly mass protests against the judicial reform, Yad Vashem is also preparing for the possibility of protesters disrupting the event. On Tuesday, the International March of the Living will take place in Poland, with thousands expected to attend and walk between the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps in memory of the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis.

The event is marking its 35th anniversary this year and will be held in full format for the first time in three years due to the coronavirus pandemic. Delegations from 25 countries are expected to attend as well as the grandchildren of the fighters of the Jewish Combat Organization.

The march will be led by 42 Holocaust survivors from Israel and elsewhere as well as senior Israeli politicians and officials. For the first time, a torch will also be lit in memory of North African Jews who were also persecuted by the Nazi regime.

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The Israeli victims of the horrific cable car crash in Italy – Amit Biran, Tal Peleg-Biran, and their 2-year-old son Tom – were laid to rest in Israel Thursday morning. The funeral for great grandparents Yitzhak and Barbara Cohen, who were also killed in the accident, will be held on Friday. 

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As per the family's request, no media was present at the funeral.

Eitan Biran, the lone survivor of the fatal accident that claimed 14 lives, began to awake from his coma on Tuesday. The 5-year old opened his eyes briefly but has not regained full consciousness. An aunt and other family members have been with him at the hospital. 

"His recovery will take a long time and will require a lot of psychological support," one doctor at Turin's Regina Margherita children's hospital, where Eitan is hospitalized, said. 

Meanwhile, the investigation into the tragedy continues. The Italian police have taken three suspects into custody – site manager Luigi Nerini, business manager Enrico Perocchio, and chief engineer Gabriele Tadini – after determining that the cable car's brake system was faulty.

District prosecutor Olimpia Bossi said that the three had known about the technical problem before the crash, alleging that they had been aware that the car was operating without brakes since April 26.

According to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, Nerini tried to avoid taking responsibility by saying, "My sons also got on the cable car." 

"If I had any doubt about safety on Sunday [the day the accident occured], I would have never let people get on the cable car," the site's elevator was quoted as saying.  

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In 1940, at age 18, Rosenfeld enlisted in the Soviet army. While he was fighting the Nazis, his entire family was murdered and buried in a mass grave near the Ukrainian village where they had lived.

In 1941 Rosenfeld was taken captive by the Germans and sent to a concentration camp in Minsk. In 1943, the camp at Minsk was dismantled and the prisoners were sent to the death camps at Majdanek and Sobibor in Poland.

On Oct. 14, 1943, Jewish laborers at the camp shot and killed 11 SS officers and three Nazi prison guards. After the uprising, 300 prisoners escaped the camps and fled to the surrounding forest. Only 50 survived.

With the help of friends, Rosenfeld escaped the forest and was able to continue fighting the Nazis. When the war was over, Rosenfeld returned to his native Ukraine, where he married and started a family. In 1990, he made aliyah to Israel.

Between April 1942 and October 1943, some 250,000 Jews met their deaths at Sobibor. The Germans razed the camp at the end of 1943 and planted a forest to help obscure their genocidal acts.

Chairman of the Jewish Agency Isaac Herzog expressed "great sadness" at the news of Rosenfeld's passing.

"Amid the horrors of the Holocaust, he became a hero. Semyon fought the Nazis as a member of the Soviet Army and was later sent to the Sobibor death camp as a prisoner of war. There, he saw death daily until the famous uprising.

"We have an obligation to remember and pass on to future generations the story of Semyon Rosenfeld's life and heroism, as well as that of everyone of his generation, of whom fewer and fewer remain," Herzog said.

Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said, "Even when Semyon was taken prisoner and, because he was Jewish, sent to the Sobibor death camp, he took part in an uprising that today still serves as a symbol of Jewish heroism. Only a few survived the uprising and escape from Sobibor, and now that the last eyewitnesses are gone, the responsibility to tell the story of their heroism falls on us. We are committed to continuing our commemorative activity for the sake of the victims, the survivors, and humanity as a whole."

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Sophie Tajch Klisman greeted Doug Harvey with a hug and thanked the 95-year-old for taking part in the liberation of the Salzwedel camp, telling him: "You gave me my life."

Harvey said he "can't take credit for the entire 15,000 guys in" his 84th Infantry Division, to which Klisman replied: "But you were one of them ... and I'm very fortunate to meet you."

The two then went inside Klisman's house in Commerce Township, sat on the living room couch and chatted with reporters about their experiences during World War II.

"They rolled in with tanks and came and opened the gates. And they were telling us: 'The war is over. You are free. You survived,'" Klisman said.

"So, that kind of feeling. We were barely alive. I mean, we were all like skeletons. A lot of the soldiers that looked at us, they cried."

Harvey, of nearby Sterling Heights, learned about Klisman while reading a recent story in The Detroit News about her plan to return to Poland and Israel as part of the "From Holocaust to Independence" mission of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.

The two were able to connect and they met in person on Monday. Klisman, 89, returned from the trip over the weekend.

In addition to Salzwedel, Klisman, along with her sister Felicia, survived the Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps.

The sisters immigrated to the U.S. in 1949, settling in the Detroit area. The rest of their family were killed during the war.

Klisman, surrounded by photos of her children and grandchildren, told Harvey that he and his fellow soldiers "gave a lot of prisoners, the survivors, life" and pointed out that "if it wouldn't be for guys like" him, she wouldn't have her "beautiful family."

"We defeated Hitler. And the Jewish people will survive and thrive. Hard to describe, hard to describe," said Klisman, who on several occasions during the meeting removed her glasses to dry her eyes.

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