Kobi and Idit Ohel, the parents of Alon, 24, who is being held in inhumane conditions in Gaza, brought a Sefer Torah in their son’s room on Motzei Shabbos as a segulah for his swift return. Freed hostages Eli Sharabi and Or Levy revealed after their release last month that Alon suffered shrapnel injuries on October 7 to his shoulder, hand, and eye and can only see shadows from that eye. “This is what will bring Alon home,” his mother Idit said, touching the Sefer Torah. “Endless emunah and hope.” “One of the things that Aloni spoke about in captivity, as Eli Sharabi said, was  Kiddush on Friday nights,” Alon’s mother said. “Aloni will soon recite Kiddush on Friday at home, soon, soon, soon. He must come home and recite Kiddush.

US President Donal Trump invited freed hostage Eli Sharabi and other freed hostages to the White House, Eli’s brother Sharon Sharabi told Israel’s Channel 12 on Sunday. The US President’s invitation came after Trump watched Sharabi’s recent interview [with English subtitles] on Channel 12’s Uvda program. Sharon said that Eli is flying to Washington on Monday on philanthropist Miriam Adelson’s plane and will meet with Trump on Tuesday. In Sharabi’s interview with Uvda, he stated that he recited Shema Yisrael every morning from the time he was abducted, something he has never done before. “The power of emunah is astounding,” he added.

The Hamas terror group released a cruel psychological terror video on Shabbos showing freed hostage Yair Horn part from his brother Eitan who is still in captivity in Gaza. The Horn family has approved the publication of the video. In addition to Eitan and Yair Horn, the video shows Sagui Dekel-Chen, who was released two weeks ago with Yair, along with two other hostages whose faces were blurred in the video. One of the hostages whose face was blurred was identified by his family by the tattoo on his arm as Nimrod Cohen, a 20-year-old IDF soldier abducted from his tank at the Nachal Oz base on October 7.

For 16 months, Eli Sharabi endured a nightmare of chains, starvation, and relentless beatings at the hands of Hamas terrorists. Now free, he is sharing his harrowing experience—not for himself, but for those still trapped in captivity. Speaking in a lengthy televised interview Thursday night, Sharabi revealed the brutality and psychological torment he suffered, particularly as Hamas used their hostages as pawns, worsening their treatment whenever Palestinian prisoners faced tougher conditions in Israeli jails. “Every irresponsible statement—we were the first ones to suffer,” he said, describing how his captors would retaliate with hunger and violence. “They come to us and say, ‘They aren’t giving our prisoners food? You won’t eat. They’re beating our prisoners?

Ba’al Chessed Shai Graucher and members of the Palm Beach shul from Florida met this week with released US-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, who told them how he connected with Yiddishkeit while he was in captivity, Ynet reported. As YWN reported, Keith’s daughter Shir said last week that her father connected to Yiddishkeit while in captivity through “small tefillos and reciting Borei Minei Mezonos, something he never did before in his life.” Keith explained that he connected to Hashem in captivity by reciting the words Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad and Baruch Shem Kevod Malchuso L’Olam V’Ed. Graucher responded: “I thought we were coming to give him chizzuk.

The Trump administration has completed a comprehensive review of U.S. foreign aid, identifying nearly 15,000 grants worth $60 billion for elimination, many of which, according to administration officials, were linked to organizations with questionable ties to terrorism. The findings, outlined in an internal State Department memo reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, highlight longstanding concerns about the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) financial oversight and funding priorities. The review, which covered both State Department and USAID grants, found that USAID accounted for the vast majority of the proposed cuts.

Further details of the heroism of Ori Danino, H’yd, who saved a number of people’s lives, including Omer Shem Tov, before being abducted to Gaza, were revealed by Eliya Cohen, one of the hostages released on Shabbos. Ori, z’l, was one of the six hostages brutally murdered in a Hamas tunnel in September 2024. Eliya’s father, Rabbi Elchanan Danino, told Yisrael Hayom: “Eliya told us that Ori wasn’t abducted in a normal way.

Defense Minister Yisrael Katz revealed on Thursday that Hamas planned on attacking yishuvim and IDF soldiers in Yehudah and Shomron and the seam line during the ceasefire. “Israel had information that Hamas was planning to attack soldiers and yishuvim – during the ceasefire,” Katz said at a conference of regional council heads. “Security forces seized Hamas ‘attack files’ targeting yishuvim in Yehudah, Shomron, and the seam line.” “The yishuvim in Yehudah and Shomron are the defensive wall of most of the State of Israel,” he emphasized. “When Yehudah and Shomron are protected, the major cities are protected.

Shortly after the bodies of the four hostages transferred to Israel late Wednesday night were identified, an Israeli source on Thursday morning said that Israel does not intend to comply with the terms of the ceasefire agreement by withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor. According to the agreement signed by Israel, IDF forces are supposed to begin withdrawing from the Philadelphi route this coming Shabbos, the 42nd day of the first phase of the ceasefire, and withdraw completely from the Strip by March 9, the 50th day of the ceasefire. The Israeli official stated: “We will not leave the Philadelphi Corridor.

The Shin Bet and Israel Police announced on Thursday that an Israeli was arrested for allegedly spying for Iran. Daniel Kitov, a 26-year-old resident of Petach Tikvah, was arrested in recent weeks after being suspected of carrying out various tasks on behalf of Iran. An investigation by the Shin Bet and the Tel Aviv Police revealed that for several months, Kitov had been in contact with an Iranian agent and, under his guidance, had carried out dozens of instances of spraying graffiti in the Petach Tikva and Rosh HaAyin areas for payment. The investigation also found that the agent asked Kitov to photograph IDF bases as well as the home of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and was asked whether he knew any pilots in the Air Force.