Israel Update 20.2.25

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

 

Chris Kenney (Sky News Australia) while reading an announcement that Hamas will return the bodies of four hostages, including members of the Bibas family: “If you need any clarification about the horrors of the Middle East conflict and the sheer brutality of Hamas and its supporters, today’s announcement makes it painfully clear” Report here

 

A DAY OF HEARTBREAK IN ISRAEL

 

Israel’s Health Ministry issued this warning:

It is recommended that today (Thursday) we avoid exposure to the media. “We are expecting a very difficult day today with a return of deceased hostages, and we recommend the public to minimize their exposure to the media”

Following this guidance I will refrain from reporting on today’s events except for this footnote:

Argentinian President Javier Milei has declared a national day of mourning for Bibas brothers who held dual Argentinian-Israeli  citizenship through their father, recently released hostage Yarden Bibas. Report here

SATURDAY’S HOSTAGE RELEASE

 

Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov, 29, Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36 and Yair Horn, 46, were handed over by Hamas in Khan Yunis on Saturday after 498 days in captivity. They appeared emaciated and pale having been held in tunnels and hiding places which were full of lice, bedbugs, mould, and mildew. They received very little food were made to drink salt water. Some were wounded and did not receive proper medical treatment. They may undergo surgery in the coming days. Reports here& here

 

Footnote:

Among the 369 Palestinian security prisoners who were released in exchange were 36 serving life sentences.

Among them were:

Ahmed Barghouti sentenced to 13 life sentences after being convicted of direct involvement in a series of attacks in which 12 Israelis were murdered.

Mantzur Sharim responsible for a series of attacks in which many Israelis were murdered, including a mass shooting at a banquet hall in Hadera in which six Israelis were murdered and 26 were wounded. He was also responsible for the murders of a soldier and a civilian in 2001.

Muhammad Mezlah involved in the 2000 Ramallah lynching that killed two IDF reservists.

The Israeli Prison Service released the Palestinians in sweatshirts emblazoned with a Star of David and the phrase ”We won’t forgive or forget” in Arabic. Report here

 

UPDATE ON RELEASED HOSTAGES

 

 

Returned hostages are showing severe health impacts including dramatic weight loss of up to 25 kg. (55 pounds), significant muscle deterioration, and complex medical challenges that will require long-term rehabilitation…  Hanna Katzir, 78, who endured seven weeks of Hamas captivity, died in December 2024.
Her daughter said, “My mother entered captivity taking one blood pressure medication. After 49 days without it, she returned with severe cardiac issues, arrhythmias, and respiratory failure.”
“She had lost basic functions – walking, standing, using the bathroom, breathing independently. She was sedated and ventilated for months before succumbing to these complications.” Report here

 

 

Interviews with three Israeli hostages who were released more than a year ago, as well as with family members of others and psychologists who are treating former captives, indicate that many released hostages struggle with physical and psychological aftereffects.    Mia Schem, 22, said, “People think you are out, you are safe, and that it’s over, but it’s not. Every day is a battle to get up and fight.”
She said she vividly recalls piles of dead bodies at the Nova music festival.
Schem was shot in the arm. Her elbow was destroyed. Four surgeries later, her right arm is a few inches shorter than her left.
Moran Stela Yanai, 41, said she can’t tolerate being indoors or in a closed room for more than a few minutes.
Yanai lost much of her hearing in captivity and now wears hearing aids.
Both of her legs were broken during her kidnapping, and she has had multiple surgeries on them since her release. Report here (paywall)

 

British-Israeli former hostage Emily Damari is to undergo surgery for gunshot wounds.Report here

 

 

Four of the five mothers of IDF border observers detail their daughters’ incredible survival. The female hostages were starved, beaten and forced to eat donkey food. Report here

 

 

CEASEFIRE/HOSTAGE NEGOTIATIONS

 

 

Brett McGurk, who led ceasefire negotiations for the Biden White House, offered rare insight into Israel-Hamas dealmaking, blamed Hamas for the failure of talks during the previous administration, in recent article, supporting Israel’s claim that Hamas’s intransigence was the reason a deal couldn’t be reached last year.

He wrote that throughout the ceasefire negotiations “Hamas consistently held back on a commitment to release hostages and aimed to ensure it remained in power after the war ends.”

His comments support those of former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who had said that Hamas had refused to agree to release the hostages in exchange for a ceasefire. Report here

And see article extract in Comment & Opinion below

 

EGYPT

 

 

Egypt is developing a plan to rebuild Gaza to counter President Trump’s proposal. Reportedly, the plan calls for establishing “secure areas” where Gazans can live initially while Egyptian and international construction firms remove the rubble and rehabilitate the infrastructure. Egyptian officials have been discussing the plan with European diplomats as well as with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, including ways to fund the reconstruction. Central to Egypt’s proposal is the establishment of a Palestinian administration that is not aligned with either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.Report here (paywall)

 

 

The Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. recently said “Egypt is in very serious violation of our peace agreement in the Sinai.”…(there are)” bases being built that can only be used for offensive operations, for offensive weapons, that’s a clear violation. For a long time, it’s been shunted aside, and this continues.” Video footage from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula in recent weeks shows a massive build-up of troops and tanks.Report here

 

and see Comment & Opinion article below

 

THE STORY OF 3 ORPHANS

 

 

Zuli and Liron Mor, who survived the October 7 massacre in Kfar Aza along with their children, have adopted their nieces and nephew Abigail, Michael and Amalia the children of Smadar and Roy Edan, who were murdered by terrorists.Article here

 

LEBANON

 

 

The IDF pulled out of southern Lebanese villages but remained in five key strategic positions Tuesday morning, just before the deadline for the withdrawal expired under the ceasefire deal with Hezbollah. These positions, close to the Israeli border, are deemed essential for ensuring the security of northern Israeli communities until the Lebanese Armed Forces is fully able to assume control over southern Lebanon.Reports here & here

 

An IDF spokesman said last week that Iran’s Quds Force sought to transfer funds to Hizbullah via civilian flights in order to “carry out attacks against Israel.” warning that the IDF would prevent such transfers. Following the Israeli warning, reportedly, Lebanese authorities refused to accept an Iranian passenger plane scheduled to fly from Tehran to Beirut. Subsequently, Asharq Al-Awsat reported that the diverted plane contained money destined for Hizbullah.Report here

 

 

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (PA)

 

The PA’s announcement that it had cancelled its policy on salary payments to terrorists was merely a “deception, a cosmetic move, and a facelift designed to gain legitimacy with the U.S. administration,” according to senior Israeli security officials. The PA announced on Feb. 10 that Mahmoud Abbas had issued a presidential decree canceling the stipends.
The security officials assessed that the PA would now transfer funds to terrorists and their families through alternative means.Report here

And see Comment & Opinion article below

 

 

EASTERN FRONT

 

 

Since Oct 7, the West Bank city Tulkarem has transformed into a hub of violence, posing a direct threat to central Israel.
Videos circulating on social media frequently show masked gunmen firing toward Israeli communities in the Hefer Valley near Netanya.
Residents of Bat Hefer frequently report gunfire and suspected tunneling activities.
Tulkarem’s rapid transformation into a terror epicentre is no longer a peripheral concern but a growing danger that must be addressed decisively. Article here

 

 

68% of Israeli Jews are concerned about an attack by West Bank Palestinians similar to the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, according to a survey conducted for the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs on Feb. 11-13, 2025. Report here

 

 

GAZA PERIPHERY

 

After over 500 days, 83% of Israel’s Gaza border evacuees (53,000 of 64,000) have returned home, but 13 out of 45 communities remain uninhabitable due to security or reconstruction concerns. Report here

 

YEMEN

 

 

On Feb. 12, the Coast Guard of the legitimate government of Yemen interdicted (intercepted) a vessel in the southern Red Sea that was destined for the Houthis via Hodeidah port and which had originated in Iran.
The vessel had a 40-foot container containing military equipment, including cruise missiles’ structures, engines used in cruise missiles and suicide drones, reconnaissance drones, marine radars, a modern jamming system, and an advanced wireless communications system. X Post here

 

 

VISIT OF PAKISTANI SUFI LEADER TO ISRAEL

 

 

Peer Syed Mudassir Nazar Shah, chairman of the global Sufi Council, visited Israel for the first time in January. According to Shah, Sufis constitute 75% of the population of Pakistan, the world’s second-largest Muslim country. Commenting on the resilience he saw in Israel he said “Even those who lost their loved ones showed optimism. People lost half their families, and they are still able to hold on to hope – it’s eye-opening.” Politically, Pakistan is one of the nations most hostile to Israel.  Report here

 

 

BBC AIRS PROPAGANDA DOCUMENTARY

 

 

The BBC has been forced to apologise for using the son of a Hamas minister  in a documentary about ordinary Palestinians.Report here (paywall)

 

 

BBC journalists are said to be alarmed at how ‘Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone’ was allowed to be broadcast in its current form. “It’s a terrible, terrible mess,” said one insider. “It’s really weird that they got themselves into this position and didn’t see the problems coming.” 50 entertainment figures sent a letter to the corporation to urge an investigation. They asked (inter alia) “Was it known to the BBC that the narrator and principal contributor of the documentary, Abdullah Al-Yazouri, is the son of a senior leader of the proscribed terrorist group, Hamas?” Article here

 

 

Former BBC journalist Jon Sopel said the corporation has “serious questions to answer” as he called for a “health warning” to be slapped on the documentary.Report here

 

 

MEDICAL RESEARCH

 

 

A grant of €22 million has been awarded to an Israeli researcher, Dr. Sivan Spitzer of Bar-Ilan University by the European Union’s Innovative Health Initiative to promote the development of an initiative to help patients with heart disease take their medications correctly and consistently as prescribed. She will work with a team of researchers from six EU countries. Article here

 

Israel-based startup Pylon Medical has recently developed a first-of-its-kind method of treating carotid artery disease, one of the leading risk factors for stroke. Current solutions for clearing the clogged blood vessels include surgically opening the arteries and cleaning out the plaque, or the insertion of a stent. These methods have long recovery times, sometimes resulting in additional complications. Pylon’s newly developed “specialty kit”, including a balloon catheter, an artery closure device, and an aspiration system, makes the treatment of clogged blood vessels much safer and less time-consuming Article here

 

 

COMMENT & OPINION

 

 

Hostages

 

Brett McGurk (who led ceasefire negotiations for Pres.Biden): Hamas is Playing Games with Releasing Hostages

Throughout the ceasefire negotiations, Hamas consistently held back on a commitment to release hostages and aimed to ensure it remained in power after the war ends. President Joe Biden was right to stand firmly by Israel and demand the release of hostages by Hamas. And President Donald Trump is right to do the same.

A U.S.-mediated deal to release hostages in exchange for a ceasefire broke down less than two months into the crisis when Hamas refused to free young women it had agreed to release. Hamas then rejected continuing talks unless Israel accepted a permanent truce up front, with a return to the Oct. 6 status quo.

While Hamas and its defenders claim it accepted another ceasefire framework in July 2024, that is not true. Hamas reinserted demands for a permanent truce. And never once agreed to a list of hostages that it would release if a ceasefire was agreed. Hamas refused to engage seriously on the essence of the deal: the hostages to be released during the ceasefire. Nor did Hamas seem to care about the civilians of Gaza, whose suffering would be greatly alleviated by a stop to the fighting.

Hamas had no serious intent to release hostages so long as Iran and Hizbullah backed its maximalist demands with ongoing attacks against Israel. Then Israel, with U.S. backing, turned north to Lebanon, where it decimated Hizbullah and, with U.S. mediation, forged a ceasefire that severed Hizbullah’s support for Hamas in Gaza.

The final stages of talks that began in December took place with the backdrop of a transformed Middle East. The talks ultimately succeeded because the military equation across the region changed, with Hamas isolated and no longer able to count on a multifront conflict. All this was achieved without the U.S. being drawn directly into an all-out Middle East war that so many analysts had predicted.Article here (paywall)

 

 

Egypt

Dr. David Wurmser: Egypt’s behaviour in allowing its common border with Gaza to be used for the smuggling of weapons, money, and material to Hamas built the problem that exploded on Oct. 7. Hamas could arm only to the level that Egypt enabled it… After Oct 7…Egypt began to reinforce its border – not to stop smuggling, but to stop the potential outflow of Palestinians. Cairo recently began to deploy armour and troops nearby, in violation of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. The demilitarization of Sinai is the essence of the treaty.

 The Arab world’s proclivity to export its problems outward for someone else to deal with rather than directly resolve or erase them consistently comes home to roost… Egypt’s policy of appeasing the Palestinians under the assumption it is Israel’s problem has finally come home to roost for Egypt itself

Article here

 

 

Gaza

 

 

Elliott Abrams:I was serving in the George W. Bush administration in 2003 when Ariel Sharon announced his decision to get out of Gaza and in 2005 the withdrawal was completed, and Gaza was left to the Palestinian Authority to govern.
The Israelis had built a network of 3,000 greenhouses, which provided 15% of all Israeli agricultural exports. A group of Jewish philanthropists put up the money and bought them (for the Gazans). The Gazans would be given a head start on economic development, with the greenhouses as models. When the Israelis left, crowds looted and destroyed the greenhouses within one week.
In all the wars of the past two centuries, there has never been a case in which civilians were absolutely forbidden to flee the battlefields. Until Gaza…But no one is offering visas; apparently refugees from Iraq or Syria are one thing, and Palestinians are another. Unless that changes, Trump’s plan will not get off the ground. Article here

 

 

Jonathan Schanzer: There is no way Arab states will accept hundreds of thousands of Gazans as refugees. It is an axiom of Arab thinking that Palestinians are expected to remain in Palestinian areas to serve the interests of Palestinian nationalism and put constant pressure on Israel. Yet, Trump articulated the obvious: This tiny territory, roughly the size of the District of Columbia, must undergo a wholesale transformation. Who is actually interested enough to effect such a transformation?
Trump’s Gaza plan is something that the other side could never accept, but now the onus is on the Arabs to counter if they don’t like it. He got their attention and has re-initiated a wider conversation about the future of the Middle East.Article here

 

 Ben-Dror Yemini: Before we criticize Trump’s Gaza Plan, we must also condemn Western countries which, for decades, have financed the Palestinian terrorists’ ideology…
The Western approach toward the Palestinians has been one of dangerous appeasement that only fuels radicalization and obstinacy.
The two-state solution is irrelevant as long as it is clear, with high probability, that any Palestinian state will become an Iranian outpost or a Qatari branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Change is possible; it has already occurred in parts of the Arab world such as the UAE, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia.
There is a direct correlation between changes in textbooks in some Arab countries and an increased willingness to reconcile with Israel. Article here

 

 

Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch:In stark contrast to any other war, the international community never seriously called on Egypt to open its doors to the fleeing Gazan refugees.* The world was oblivious to the fact that the Gazans were trapped. The fact is that the fake humanitarians, the states that allegedly care about the Gazans, and the UN mechanisms do not give a damn about the Gazans. They would be more than content to see the Gazans living in a demolition site Their only concern is that the Gazans continue to suffer so that they can be weaponized against Israel. Article here

*Egypt has an obligation under international law to open its border to refugees under a treaty of the African Union.

 

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has NOT stopped payments to Terrorists

 

Bassam Tawil: Abbas claims to have ended the ‘Pay for Slay’ programme – but it’s just a rebranding.Article here

 

BBC documentary

 

David Collier exposed Hamas propaganda throughout the programme ‘How to Survive a Warzone’  Article here

 

 

Jake Wallis Simons: …there was not a single image of a gun, let alone a terrorist, either living or dead. Jihadis were invisible when wounded civilians were seen and great prominence was given to claims that Hamas was nowhere near any target… The simple answer is one we have known for years: Hamas has always censored all footage of its terrorists in order to curate the false impression that Israel is waging war on civilians.  Article here (paywall)

Australian nurses who wished death on Israelis

 

Brendan O’Neill: Article here