The Israeli hostage family of Gaza waits for a truce: “It’s imperative to save lives, but it’s not enough,” says Salem Al-Najjar
The Palestinians of Gaza are trying to see if a new truce can help the delivery of aid, but many are losing hope.
A month ago, a deal was reached that would have spared the lives of nearly 4,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Salem Al-Najjar, 62, has been living in a tent in Rafah that he built from discarded flour bags and sheets of plastic. He has been living with 10 other members of his family since being displaced from his home in Khan Younis, and is fed up with the delays in negotiations.
He said we are the ones suffering. “Not Hamas, they’re relaxed. They are sitting outside, their children too. And we are the ones eating s***.”
“The truce is necessary, it’s essential,” said Najjar. Is it true that you are satisfied with those who have died? Isn’t it enough? It’s enough with people that can’t find food or drink, they are begging.”
35-year-old Asmaa was trying to survive with her family in Rafah. Originally from Gaza City, Salha said she is hoping for a permanent cease-fire, but even a temporary truce can’t come soon enough.
“I, like many others, am waiting for the truce, not just for safety, but also for the entry of aid, a decrease in prices. “This means a lot to us, because of the skyrocketing prices of staple foods in Gaza right now.”
Gadi Moses, the hostage son of a kidnapped kidnapper, and the need for peace in the Middle East
Among those waiting to be released is Gadi Moses, who will turn 80 on Tuesday. He was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7. His partner, Efrat Katz, 68, was killed in the attack.
His son, Yair Moses, 49, is waiting for his father’s release. He hasn’t heard any news of him at all, other than a video released in December by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad — a militant group that also participated in the Oct. 7 attack, along with Hamas.
It takes a lot of effort to remain optimistic despite the reports of cease-fire negotiations, as was stated by Moses.
He understands the need for military pressure on Hamas, but wishes the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would focus more on negotiations.
“We are living in hell,” he said about hostage families like his own. “And we need this hell to finish … They need to realize that bringing them home is the most crucial thing.
Abraham Munter is a great uncle, and Itay hopes to see him again. But like the other hostage families, he has no idea when — or if — his loved one will be released.
We don’t know what to do anymore. We are desperate. We’re calling out to our government, to everyone who thinks they’re a leader of some type for help, because in the more than five months after the attack, nothing has changed. Everything is stuck.”
It was said that he didn’t have a lot of faith in Netanyahu but wanted to bring the hostages home. “A deal or something in the future will be on him,” said Raviv.
The Gaza Children’s Aid Crisis: The Last Stop-Fire and Now It’s Not: The U.S. Airdrops aren’t Perfect for Delivering Aid
In Gaza, at least 17,000 kids are separated from their families. And according to Save The Children, a humanitarian charity focusing on the welfare of children, at least 12,400 children have been killed there in the aftermath of last year’s attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants.
The International Committee of the Red Cross released a statement on Saturday calling for a “cessation of hostilities to allow for meaningful assistance to reach the people in need,” the release of the hostages held by Hamas and humane treatment of Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody.
Approximately 1,200 people were killed and another 220 were kidnapped by Hamas in southern Israel, according to Israeli officials. Israel’s military response has killed at least 31,112 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
There is more than a million Palestinians in Rafah, which is facing dire shortages of food, water, and shelter. There are around 600,000 children living in Rafah according to the UN agency.
“The most serious situation is in the north, which has been completely isolated for a very long time. Jonathan Fowler, a spokesman for UNRWA, the main UN aid agency for Palestinians in Gaza, said that they had not gotten food there since the end of January.
It takes time to ramp up aid distribution — the last cease-fire, which lasted about a week, didn’t see the maximum number of aid trucks enter Gaza until the fifth day — that’s when 300 truckloads of aid went in. That’s not enough to sustain 500 people per day in Gaza.
The airdrops are not perfect for delivering aid. Some pallets have blown into Israel or the Mediterranean Sea. The pallet is believed to have killed five Palestinians because a chute failed to deploy. In a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter), U.S. Central Command said the deaths were “not the result of U.S. airdrops.”
President Biden last week announced the construction of a temporary port in Gaza to enable aid delivery by sea, but that project could take weeks to complete.
The children of Israelis in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack and the UN: why Israel hasn’t given the moral order yet?
Fowler’s point was that the knock on impacts of what people have already suffered, both mentally and physically, will persist for some time even if people start receiving adequate nutrition right now.
Israel’s government wants a short-term cease-fire to secure the release of at least 40 hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack. Netanyahu is under pressure to get the release of hostages and he continues to threaten a ground offensive in Rafah.
The negotiations between Israel and Egypt did not take place last week despite the fact that Israel didn’t send a delegation.
“This is either the fifth or the sixth time. Every two weeks it’s the same story, when the Israeli delegation is supposed to go to Cairo it takes three weeks, a week, every three weeks they tell us another three,” said Jarghoun.
The SOS facility in Rafah will remain open, according to a statement from the charity, and continue to accept children who have lost their parents in the war, which has been especially devastating for children.
The UN said that the transfer was carried out with approval of Israeli authorities, and that has caused anger within the Israeli government. Itamar Ben-Gvrin, the national security minister, said that the citizens of Israel are still paying the price for the transfer. The finance minister asked if someone gave the “moral order” while the children of Israelis were held hostage.
Evacuation of Rafah, Gaza, for Orphans During the First World War II: Disaster Management and Support for Children’s Villages International
The charity had a facility in Rafah, caring for children who were orphans before the war, but it has been forced to move due to dangerous conditions in the city.
“The successful evacuation gives a glimmer of hope. At the same time, our concern remains with all the children who are still in danger in Gaza,” said Angela Maria Rosales, chief program officer at SOS Children’s Villages International.
The children, staff and their families were helped out by the German embassy and arrived in Bethlehem on Monday.
A group of children without parental care and 11 others from the southern Gaza Strip and the West Bank were evacuated by an international non-profit organization.