Israel-Hamas War Day 203: What's going on in Israel, Gaza?

UN investigators examining Israeli accusations that 12 staff from the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA took part in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks have closed one case due to a lack of evidence from Israel and suspended three more, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday.

He said the inquiry by the Office for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) continues into the remaining eight cases.

In the closed case, Dujarric said "no evidence was provided by Israel to support the allegations against the staff member" and that the UN is "exploring corrective administrative action to be taken in that person's case."

He said three cases were suspended "as the information provided by Israel is not sufficient for OIOS to proceed with an investigation." He said UNRWA is considering what administrative action to take.

After an initial 12 cases were raised by the Israeli government in late January, a further seven cases were brought to the attention of the United Nations in March and April, Dujarric said. One of those cases was suspended pending receipt of additional supporting evidence, he said, and the remaining six investigations continue.

UNRWA provides education, health and aid to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

We are witnessing another transparent attempt at whitewashing UNRWA to ensure its survival (credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the agency as "the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza" and pledged to act immediately on any new information from Israel related to "infiltration of Hamas" among its workers.

UNRWA's alleged involvement with Hamas

The accusations became public in January when UNRWA, which employs some 13,000 people in Gaza, announced that it had fired some staff and been briefed by Israel. Of the initial 12 accused by Israel, UNRWA fired 10 people and said the remaining two are dead. It was not immediately clear how they died.

OIOS immediately began its investigation into the accusations against the dozen staff, and the United Nations separately appointed former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna in February to lead a review of UNRWA's ability to ensure neutrality and respond to allegations of breaches.

Colonna's findings were released on Monday and noted that UNRWA has "a more developed approach" to neutrality than other similar UN or aid groups. "Despite this robust framework, neutrality-related issues persist," her report found.

Israel's allegations against the dozen UNRWA staff led 16 states to pause or suspend funding of $450 million to UNRWA, a blow to an agency grappling with the humanitarian crisis that has swept Gaza since Israel launched its offensive there.

UNRWA said 10 of those countries had resumed funding, but the United States, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria and Lithuania had not. A UN spokesperson said UNRWA currently had enough funding to pay for operations until June.

After the US, UNRWA's biggest donor at $300-400 million a year, paused funding, the US Congress then suspended contributions until at least March 2025.

The IDF attacked and killed Matzab Halaf, a senior member of the Islamic Group organization (Al-Juma'ah al-Islamiyah) in Lebanon.

The group has been involved in attacks on Israel from Lebanon following the renewed outbreak of hostilities on the countries' border, when Hezbollah began to attack Israel in support of Hamas.

"The terrorist Mazab Khalaf acted on behalf of the Islamic Group organization, led and promoted many attacks and acts of terrorism from the soil of Lebanon against Israel in the northern sector in the Mount Dov area and in other areas in recent times," the IDF said in a statement, adding that Khalaf "acted in cooperation with the branch of the terrorist organization Hamas in Lebanon, while coordinating and carrying out terrorist acts against Israel.

The strike "was carried out in order to damage the organization's ability to promote and carry out terrorist operations that it had planned in recent times against the State of Israel in the northern border area," the statement concluded.

The area of Mount Hermon in Israel's North was targeted by 30 launches on Friday, the IDF said, delivered in three waves. Some of the projectiles were intercepted. 

This is a developing story.

Noga Weiss, an 18-year-old former hostage, told N12 on Thursday that her terrorist captor had demanded her hand in marriage and insisted that she stay in Gaza to raise his children.

Weiss, who was released on her 50th day in captivity as part of a temporary ceasefire agreement, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Beeri on October 7th. 

After 14 days in captivity, her captor gave her a ring and demanded that she stay in Gaza to marry him and have his children.

“He told me, ‘Everyone will be released, but you will stay here with me and have my children,’” she recalled. “I pretended to laugh so he wouldn’t shoot me in the head.”

The hostage Hamas terrorist wanted to keep for himself: Noga Weiss, who was released from captivity in Gaza after 50 days, in a moving testimony

החטופה שמחבל החמאס רצה לשמור לעצמו: נוגה וייס ששוחררה מהשבי בעזה אחרי 50 יום בעדות מטלטלתhttps://t.co/MLDhDNsb5T | @michalpeylan pic.twitter.com/OrUaSCvr0l

— החדשות - N12 (@N12News) April 25, 2024

 While Weiss and her mother Shiri were held captive separately, she told the source that the pair were reunited so the captor could ask Weiss’s mother for approval for the marriage.

Shiri Weiss, 53 (credit: Bring Them Home Now)

“I thought she’d been murdered, I thought I was alone. Suddenly, she’s alive, and I’m not alone,” Weiss said on being reunited with her mother.

Yulie Ben Ami and Maayan Weiss, whose family members were kidnapped to Gaza on October 7, stand with the writer on Capitol Hill. (credit: NOAM BEDEIN)

“People don’t understand the feeling of fear,” Weiss said. “I was 50 days, 24/7, with the thought that they would get tired of me and just shoot me or that they wouldn’t need me in the end, or that they would shoot us while we slept in the middle of the night.

“Their moods changed so quickly. One minute they played with us and laughed, the next they’d come in with a gun. You always had to please them.”

Speaking of the conditions, Weiss said at one point they were left with only half a bottle of water to last them two days.

What happened to the Weiss family on October 7?

The Weiss family hid in their safe room on October 7, when Hamas terrorists began firing bullets at the door “started shooting at the door, something like 40 shots until they managed to get in,” Weiss said. 

The young woman was hiding alongside her 53-year-old mother.

“We saw the conversations on WhatsApp and understood what was happening. People were writing that their house was on fire and then stopped answering,” she said.

Weiss’s mother Shiri told her to hide under the bed, in hopes that the terrorists would not see her daughter.

Weiss explained “I went under the bed, and they came in and took her. After they took her outside, I heard gunshots. I thought she was murdered and not kidnapped.”

Weiss’s 26-year-old sister, who hid for 12 hours in nearby student apartments, said their kidnapped mother watched as homes were torched by terrorists. She reportedly feared that their home, where Weiss hid, would be set on fire.

Weiss crawled to bushes near her house, but was spotted by terrorists and taken captive.

“Something like 40 terrorists surrounded me with Kalashnikovs. They tied my hands behind my back. As they took me away, I saw the bodies of people I knew from the kibbutz. A few minutes later, they put me in a car and started driving,” she said.

It was later discovered that Ilan Weiss, the 56-year-old father of the family, was murdered by Hamas terrorists while attempting to join the kibbutz emergency squad. Ilan Weiss’s body is now being held captive in Gaza.

An 18-year-old woman was stabbed by a terrorist in Ramle, central Israel, on Friday afternoon, according to Magen David Adom. 

The woman is in serious condition, as the terrorist stabbed her upper body. She is now being treated in Shamir Assaf Harofeh Hospital. 

The terrorist has been neutralized.

Treating the victim of the attack

MDA received the call at 16:41 and paramedics were quickly on the scene.

Terrorist stabbing attack in Ramle leaves 18-year-old woman in serious condition. (credit: MAGEN DAVID ADOM)

MDA Medicycle Unit EMT Mendy Amitai said "We were rapidly on scene, found an 18-year-old conscious female with a stab wound to her upper body. We dressed the injury and stopped the bleeding, and she was evacuated in an MDA MICU to hospital, conscious and in serious condition."

This is a developing story.

The IDF attacked military buildings in which Hezbollah operatives were located in the south of Lebanon, according to a statement on Friday.

"A short time ago, fighter jets attacked military buildings where terrorists of the Hezbollah terror organization were staying in the areas Tir Harfa and Aita al-Sha'ab in southern Lebanon," the statement said.

"In addition, tanks fired to remove a threat in the areas of Yarin and Dahira in southern Lebanon." 

An Egyptian delegation met Israeli officials on Friday, looking for a way to restart talks to end the war in Gaza and return the remaining Israeli hostages, an official briefed on the meetings said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Israel had no new proposals to make, although it was willing to consider a limited truce in which 33 hostages would be released, instead of the 40 previously under discussion.

"There are no current hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, nor is there a new Israeli offer in that regard," the official said. "What there is, is an attempt by Egypt to restart the talks with an Egyptian proposal that would entail the release of 33 hostages - women, elderly and infirm."

The Biden administration will not impose sanctions on the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, according to an ABC report on Friday, citing a letter penned by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. 

Earlier this week, it was reported that the administration was set to announce sanctions against the Netzah Yehuda battalion, which operates in the West Bank, over accusations of human rights violations. 

Security forces operated overnight in the village of Duma in the West Bank to map out the home of the terrorist who murdered 14-year-old Binyamin Achimair earlier this month, the military said on Friday.

In parallel, in the Dahariya village, forces arrested a suspect and confiscated an M-4 rifle.

Throughout Passover, thousands of soldiers in the Central Command acted to defend Israeli citizens on the roads, in settlements, and at holiday events, the IDF added.

Forces in the West Bank continued offensive and defensive operations, the military noted. 

IDF troops thwarted an attempted terror attack in the West Bank on Friday, the military announced.

A terrorist armed with an axe and an additional terrorist were arrested as they arrived at a farm in the area of Binyamin, the IDF said.

After searching their car, troops found additional axes and knives.

The terrorists along with the weapons were transferred to the security forces.