199 hostages redeemed from Gaza since Oct. 7; 56 remain
(JNS) — Israel has rescued or returned 199 hostages held by Palestinian terrorist organizations in Gaza since the Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attacks in the country’s south, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Thursday.
One hundred forty-eight captives returned alive, while Jerusalem retrieved the bodies of 51 slain hostages, according to the official data.
Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups abducted 251 Israelis and foreign nationals during the Oct. 7 massacre. The figure released by the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday include IDF Staff Sgt. Oron Shaul, who was killed in action in Gaza in 2014 and whose body was recovered by the military in January, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who entered the Strip on their own accord and were freed in a hostage deal on Feb. 22.
Israel may head to elections as haredi Orthodox parties rebel over army conscription
(JTA) — Israel’s government may fall soon as one of its haredi Orthodox factions threatens to leave because of a dispute over the military draft.
Israel requires all of its Jewish citizens to enlist in the military but has carved out an exception for haredi Orthodox men in a deal dating back to the state’s early days. The draft exemption, which is not anchored in law, has sparked protest for decades that has intensified during Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, as Israeli reservists have served repeated, months-long tours. Last year, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the government to start drafting haredi men.
Haredi politicians have demanded that the exemption continue, but progress on a bill has stalled. Now one of the haredi parties, United Torah Judaism, has said it will pull out of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, which is a mix of right-wing and religious parties.
Herzog hosts participants of ‘Tefillin for Hostages’ project
(JNS) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog hosted a gathering on Wednesday with the “Tefillin for Every Hostage” project, an initiative launched by Riki Siton and Julie Kupershtein, mother of hostage Bar Kupershtein, who has been held captive by Hamas for over 600 days.
Bar was abducted on Oct. 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists while working as a security guard at the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im. On the morning of the attack, he remained on-site to help and provided first aid to wounded festival-goers until he was taken captive.
The initiative connects individuals who do not regularly don tefillin (phylacteries, used by Jewish men during morning prayers) and who volunteer to do so daily for a specific hostage, with tefillin donors and artists.
Golani commando pulled from Gaza to save girl’s life at Hadassah
(JNS) — A 21-year-old Israel Defense Forces commando left the front line in Gaza to donate life-saving bone marrow to a 5-year-old girl battling leukemia.
The soldier, identified as A., a resident of Kfar Tavor near Mount Tabor in the eastern Lower Galilee serving in the Golani Commando Unit (formerly known as the Golani Reconnaissance Battalion), was contacted by Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem as he was about to leave the combat zone, Israeli outlet Channel 12 News reported on Thursday.
Years earlier, as he joined the army at the IDF’s induction center, he had submitted a saliva sample to Hadassah’s volunteer bone marrow donor registry. That sample led to his identification as a perfect genetic match for a young patient in need.
