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At least four hostages who were kidnapped in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7 attack have been freed - in what is the largest such recovery operation since the war began in Gaza.
Israel's army said it rescued Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40, in two locations in a complex daytime operation in the heart of Nuseirat on Saturday morning, raiding the two places at once and under fire.
Afterwards Israel said that it would continue fighting until all taken in the Oct. 7 attack that started the war are freed.
Meanwhile an official at a hospital in central Gaza said at least 94 bodies have arrived after heavy fighting in the rescue area.
Khalil Degran spoke to The Associated Press as fighting continued in the part of Gaza where the Israeli military rescued four hostages Saturday morning.
The official says more than 100 wounded have also arrived at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al Balah.
Palestinians killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought to al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, June 8, 2024 Ismael Abu Dayyah/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, June 8, 2024. Ismael Abu Dayyah/Copyright 2024 The AP. All rights reserved.
One of the rescued hostages reunited with her father
Argamani had been one of the most widely recognized hostages after being abducted from a music festival in southern Israel.
The video of her abduction was among the first to surface, with Argamani detained between two men on a motorcycle as she screamed, “Don’t kill me!”
Her mother, Liora, has stage four brain cancer and in April released a video pleading to see her daughter before she dies.
An elated Argamani spoke by phone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In an audio message released by the government, Netanyahu is heard asking how she’s feeling. She tells him she is “very excited,” saying she hasn’t heard Hebrew in so long.
Two other rescued hostage, Andrey Kozlov and Almog Meir Jan arrived by helicopter at Sheba Medical Centre in Ramat Gan on Saturday.
The bodies of the dozens of Palestinians killed were taken to Al-Aqsa Hospital, where they were counted by Associated Press reporters.
They later saw more dead arrive at the hospital from the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah areas as smoke rose in the distance.
Israel's military said it attacked “threats to our forces in the area.” The military said one fighter was seriously wounded.
Hamas took some 250 hostages during the Oct. 7 attack that killed about 1,200 people. About half were released in a weeklong cease-fire in November.
Israel says more than 130 hostages remain, with about a quarter of those believed dead. Divisions are deepening over the best way to bring them home.
Pressure mounting on Israel to limit the bloodshed
Meanwhile, International pressure is mounting on Israel to limit civilian bloodshed in its war in Gaza which reached its eighth month on Friday.
More than 36,700 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
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Palestinians face widespread hunger because fighting and Israeli restrictions have largely cut off the flow of aid.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to the Middle East next week, seeking a breakthrough in the apparently stalled cease-fire negotiations.
Saturday’s hostage recovery operation brings the total of rescued captives to seven. Two men were rescued in February when troops stormed a heavily guarded apartment, and a woman was rescued in the aftermath of the October attack.
Israeli troops have recovered at least 16 bodies of hostages from Gaza, according to the government.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called Saturday's rescue “a heroic operation” and said the army will fight until all hostages are returned.
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Netanyahu faces growing pressure to end the fighting in Gaza. Many Israelis urge him to embrace a deal announced last month by the U.S. President Joe Biden, but far-right allies threaten to collapse his government if he does.
Israel is intensifying operations across central Gaza, where the hostages were rescued. On Thursday, an Israeli airstrike hit a U.N.-run school compound in Nuseirat, killing over 33 people inside the school, including three women and nine children.
Israel said some 30 militants were inside at the time and on Friday released the names of 17 militants it said were killed. However, only nine of those names matched with records of the dead from the hospital morgue.
One of the alleged militants was an 8-year-old boy, according to hospital records.
Israeli marks 1st birthday as Hamas hostage, South Africa genocide case, 60,000 Palestinians wounded WATCH: Families of female Israeli hostages protest in Tel Aviv
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Greek police said a broad search and rescue operation has been underway since Wednesday on the island of Symi, which is on the eastern side of the Aegean Sea and around 6.5 kiilometres from Turkey.
Michael Mosley, who is 67, is a well-known British television doctor who popularized intermittent fasting for weight loss and long-term health.
He is believed to have gone for a walk on Wednesday afternoon while on holiday on the island, which is a popular destination for hikers.
Police, firefighters, civil protection personnel and volunteers were participating in the search, along with at least one sniffer dog, drones and a helicopter.
Mosley is well-known in many parts of the world for his 2013 book “The Fast Diet,” which he co-authored with journalist Mimi Spencer. The 5:2 diet, as it became known, set out how people can lose weight fast by minimizing their calorie intake for two days in a week while eating healthily on the other five.
He has subsequently introduced the Fast 800 diet, a rapid weight loss programme, whereby dieters restrict their calorie intake to 800 a day for at least two weeks, before transitioning to the 5:2 programme.
Mosley has often pushed his body to extreme lengths to see the effects of his diets and also lived with tapeworms in his guts for six weeks for the BBC documentary “Infested! Living With Parasites.”
Mosley is also known for his regular appearances on British television as well as his column in the Daily Mail newspaper. He has also made a number of films about diet and exercise.
In 2002, Mosley was nominated for an Emmy for his executive producer role on the BBC science documentary “The Human Face,” which was presented by Monty Python star John Cleese and which featured a raft of famous faces including Elizabeth Hurley, Pierce Brosnan and David Attenborough.
Mosley has four children with his wife Clare Bailey Mosley, who is also a doctor, author and health columnist. She has written recipes for his diet books.
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Despite relentless missile strikes, air raids, and increasingly frequent power cuts, Ukrainians remain fixated on the European elections.
At war for nearly two and a half years, Ukraine has depended on the rest of the continent for crucial support for weapons and humanitarian aid while Kyiv's soldiers continue to toil in pushing back the Russian invasion's advance into their country.
An unfavorable outcome in the 6-9 June elections could make matters worse and decide whether they will have the basic means to continue fighting back against Vladimir Putin’s troops.
For Ukrainians — and many others on the continent — it’s clear. If Ukraine falls, no one will truly be safe, and others could see themselves as targets.
“My message to all Europeans is to use your vote to defend democracy, use your voice for those who cannot", Oleksandra Matviichuk, Chair of the Center for Civil Liberties, told Euronews.
Matviichuk's NGO provides essential records of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Russian army in Ukraine, an essential testament to the veneer of civilisation being scraped off in the eastern European country. “This is the only way to stop anti-democratic political forces from gaining power.”
For figures like Matviichuk, crucial security issues like Ukraine are bipartisan issues, ones closely tied to universal democratic values which should not fall victim to ideological bickering.
“I hope that despite this, European parties will come together on the issue of supporting Ukraine. Ukraine is fighting for democracy and freedom, which is the benchmark of the European Union,” said Matviichuk, whose organisation was awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.
Democracy, Euromaidan and rumble of approaching tanks
Ukrainians have a visceral understanding of the importance of democracy, having suffered through a bloody crackdown against the pro-EU Euromaidan protests in Kyiv in 2013.
Euromaidan’s success forced President Viktor Yanukovych to fold to people’s demands and flee to Russia at the time, but it came at a price: by 2014, the Kremlin aided and abetted the pro-Moscow separatists in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine and annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
Ukrainians' desperate cries that Russia would not stop at the Donbas fell on deaf ears for eight years until tanks rolled across the border and into the country once again in 2022.
A man plants sunflowers in his garden near a damaged Russian tank and its turret in the village of Velyka Dymerka, 17 May 2023 AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky
After repelling the initial full-scale onslaught and pushing back Moscow forces, it seemed like Kyiv could emerge victorious. At the time, the EU embraced Kyiv with open arms, countering Putin’s act of aggression with a slew of economic sanctions against Russia and a commitment to keep providing the weapons and ammo Ukraine sorely needed.
Brussels says Ukraine and Moldova ready for membership talks as Hungary mounts opposition
Ukraine was fast-tracked on its path to EU candidate status, and the long-standing dream of its people of being welcomed into the greater European family seemed to be within reach.
However, things got complicated. Kyiv launched a largely failed counter-offensive caused by a slow supply of ammunition and having to face multiple waves of Russian military conscripts in the east of the country. Other conflicts, like the Israel-Hamas war, drew away public attention.
Far right, the great naysayer?
As Russian forces entrench themselves, the country is besieged by relentless missile and drone assaults on civilian sites, inundating entire valleys and continuously dangling the possibility of nuclear strikes. It's evident that the conflict won't see a swift resolution soon.
In the rest of Europe, voices continue to emerge expressing scepticism towards the EU’s continued support for Ukraine.
With the rise of the far right — some of who have explicitly campaigned against arms shipments and opening the door to Ukrainian accession — many fear that the results of the June vote might see Kyiv's fortunes turn for the worse.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during the EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv, 2 February 2024 AP/Ukrainian Presidential Press Office
On Friday, the European Commission told the member states that Ukraine fulfilled the criteria to kick off membership talks. Yet, the biggest challenge the country might face as the new European Parliament forms will be finding enough support for its path to full membership, CEO of Centre for European Policy Studies Karel Lainoo told Euronews.
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Although S&D and EPP — both staunch supporters of Ukraine — are expected to remain the two strongest groups in Parliament, “since the third or the fourth largest group may become or is expected to become the eurosceptics or even worse, the anti-Euro groups, it will only become more difficult,” Lainoo said.
Russia's war in Ukraine has been knocking on your door, too As voters head to the polls, Europe’s future lies in Ukraine’s recovery
“Even if this process was started by (European Commission President Ursula) von der Leyen very explicitly and also supported by (European Council President) Charles Michel, who said Ukraine should become a member by 2030, it is likely that this process will be slowed down.”
Europe understands the threat this time around
And it’s not just about the war. Member states, who also have to approve Ukraine’s accession, might choose to prioritise protecting their economies and defer to the sceptical among their citizens as a means of justifying the move.
“Politicians will say, 'look, this means that Europeans are rather conservative or afraid of a country like Ukraine to join too rapidly, to benefit from full access to the single market, and eventually to distort the agricultural single market and other aspects of the market with much cheaper products. Hence, we have to protect our market, and we will slow it down,'" Lainoo explained.
But will this also translate into the EU hanging Kyiv out to dry, allowing the Kremlin to push forward once again? Lainoo doesn’t think so, especially because even among those on the extreme ends of the political spectrum, there is no unanimity over Ukraine’s war effort.
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More importantly, Europe is fully aware of the threat coming from Moscow this time.
“There is a cross-party realisation that this is existential for Europe. Rationally, yes; probably emotionally not so. But rationally, they will say that this is a danger for Europe,” Lainoo concluded.