President Joe Biden said he and the first lady were “devastated” to learn an American citizen believed to be a hostage in Gaza had actually died in the Oct. 7 attacks by militants.
The death of New York native Judih Weinstein, a 70-year-old citizen of the U.S., Israel and Canada, was announced Thursday by Kibbutz Nir Oz. Less than a week before, the kibbutz had said her husband, Gad Haggai, 73, was also killed in the Hamas rampage that started the war. Their bodies have not been returned.
“I will never forget what their daughter, and the family members of other Americans held hostage in Gaza, have shared with me,” Biden said in a statement. “They have been living through hell for weeks. No family should have to endure such an ordeal.”
Weinstein was the mother of four and grandmother of seven. She and her husband were attacked while out on an early-morning walk Oct. 7, but she managed to call emergency services and report they’d been shot, and also sent a message to her family.
“Judy dedicated her life to serving others, spending years teaching English and using her passions for poetry, puppeteering and mindfulness to empower children of all backgrounds,” her family said in a statement. “She will be remembered for her compassion, her peaceful nature and the creative life she built with her husband.”
Developments:
∎ At least 23 people were killed Thursday evening when a residential building was destroyed by a strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, according to the media office of the nearby Al-Kuwaiti Hospital.
∎ Israeli police said security forces shot and killed a Palestinian man who stabbed two security workers at a checkpoint between the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
∎ A hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah received the bodies of 25 people killed overnight, including five children and seven women, as Israel expanded its offensive in the area.
∎ Troops operating in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza located several tunnel entrances, including one in a mosque, the Israeli military says. Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of using mosques and public buildings for military quarters and as hiding places.
∎ Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant talked about Israel’s offensive in Gaza and “the stabilization phase that will follow major combat operations” during a phone call Thursday that also addressed the importance of improving civilian protection and the delivery of humanitarian aid, the Pentagon said.
∎ Thousands of Israeli teens chanted “Everyone, now” as they marched near the Knesset in Jerusalem calling for the return of the hostages from Gaza.
Airport protests over Gaza in NYC, LA:Some travelers forced to walk to terminals
Israel: Troops not justified in shooting 3 hostages
Israeli troops who accidentally shot three militant-held hostages should not have opened fire because the shooting “did not match the risk” they faced as a firefight unfolded, according to a conclusion issued Thursday by the Israeli military. The soldiers were not disciplined.
The shooting took place in Gaza less than two weeks ago, shocking Israel and fueling protests aimed at pressuring the government to make a deal with Hamas for the release of the remaining hostages.
“The shooting of the hostages should not have been carried out, this shooting did not match the risk and the situation,” Chief of Staff, Lt. Col. Herzi Halevi wrote. “However, it was carried out under complex circumstances, and under intense combat conditions under prolonged threat.”
The three men were shirtless and had emerged from a building with a white flag when Israeli troops encountered them in Shejaiya, an area of north Gaza where clashes between the military and militants had taken place for several days. Two of the hostages were shot and killed immediately, and the third ran back into the building screaming for help in Hebrew.
A commander ordered troops to cease fire, but two soldiers who did not hear the order because of noise from a nearby tank shot the third person, Halevi wrote. Only later were the bodies confirmed to be those of three Israelis, Yotam Haim, Samer Talalka and Alon Shamriz.
Halevi said commanders must make sure operational instructions are clear “so that we don’t kill ourselves.”
“The (military) failed in the mission of rescuing the abductees in this incident,” Halevi concluded. “The entire chain of command feels responsible for the difficult event, grieves over this outcome and shares in the grief of the three families of the abductees.”
No more hostage releases unless war ends, Hamas official says
Any further release of the hostages held in Gaza will require an end to the war, not merely a temporary cease-fire, a Hamas official said Thursday.
Osama Hamdan said at a news conference that the Palestinian militant group would consider “any ideas or proposals for a complete and final cessation of aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip” but not a partial truce.
Hamas released more than 100 hostages, almost all women and children, as part of a weeklong truce in late November, in exchange for Israel freeing 240 Palestinian prisoners. Israel believes approximately 100 hostages remain in Gaza.
Hamdan also said it would be strictly up to Palestinians to decide who rules Gaza after the war, and that they would “not accept a leadership that comes on the back of a Zionist or American tank or under the protection of this tank.”
Israel ‘regrets harm to civilians’ in refugee camp assault
The Israeli military apologized Thursday for a strike that killed dozens of people in the Maghazi refugee camp in the center of Gaza this week, admitting the assault likely caused “unintended harm” to civilians. The military issued a statement to USA TODAY saying Israeli fighter jets struck two targets near where Hamas militants were found.
The strike late Sunday destroyed several houses in the camp that were packed with refugees who had fled northern Gaza under Israeli evacuation orders. At least 70 people were killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel says it orders evacuations ahead of such strikes, but local residents told Al Jazeera there was no warning before the bombs slammed into the camp.
Steps had been taken to “mitigate harm to uninvolved civilians” in the area, the military said. A preliminary investigation revealed that additional buildings near the target were hit and “likely caused unintended harm to additional uninvolved civilians.”
The military said the General Staff’s Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism, responsible for investigating exceptional events that occur during combat, was reviewing the attack.
“The IDF regrets the harm caused to uninvolved civilians and is acting to draw conclusions and learn lessons from this event,” the statement said.
Israeli singer poised for big break killed in Gaza
An Israeli military reservist killed in Gaza this week had successfully auditioned for a TV show that picks Israel’s submission to the wildly popular Eurovision Song Contest. Shaul Greenglick, 26, performed in Israeli army fatigues on “Israel’s Rising Star” on Dec. 3 while on furlough from the war. He sang a popular ballad and was moved through to the next round in the process, the Jerusalem Post reported.
“It’s reassuring that someone like you is in uniform,” singer and competition judge Keren Peles told Greenglick. “I would be happy to see you representing Israel at Eurovision.” Peles later said Greenglick had been forced to drop out of the contest because of his military duties.
Contributing: The Associated Press
