hostages

Return of Worshippers After Abduction in Kajuru In a significant development, 80 worshippers who escaped abduction during the attack on Kurmin Wali in the Kajuru Local Government Area have returned home after spending approximately two weeks hiding in neighboring villages. Village Head Ishaku Dan'azumi provided an update on the situation, revealing that while initial reports indicated 177 individuals were abducted, further investigations clarified that 80 had successfully fled to safety. Unfortunately, 86 worshippers…

Israel’s military said it has retrieved the remains of Israeli police officer Ran Gvili, the last hostage held in Gaza, a development officials said fulfills a key condition in the initial phase of a U.S.-brokered plan to end the Gaza war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had “brought them all back,” after months of operations and negotiations to secure the release or recovery of the 251 people abducted during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 assault. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the return of the final Israeli hostage…

Hamas, Red Cross resume search in Gaza for body of last Israeli hostage, key to ceasefire talks Hamas officials said Tuesday that search operations have resumed in Gaza City for the remains of the last Israeli hostage in the enclave, a move Israel has tied to the start of talks on the second phase of a fragile ceasefire agreement. The Palestinian group’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, is working “accompanied by Red Cross teams” in the Zeitun neighborhood in southeastern Gaza City after a two-week pause caused…

AFGOYE, Somalia — The Somali National Army rescued more than 30 civilians from Al-Shabaab detention sites during a targeted operation in Lower Shabelle, the Ministry of Defence said, marking one of the most significant hostage recoveries in recent months. The raid unfolded in Buula Madiina, a rural area in Afgoye district, where hostages were being held in makeshift camps, ministry officials said. Among those freed were at least two women. Somali forces killed three Al-Shabaab operatives guarding the compound and…

Bodies, borders and a bitter ceasefire: what the recent exchanges reveal about Gaza’s fragile pause The exchange of bodies and a single identified Israeli remains a grim marker of a ceasefire that is at once fragile and consequential. Over recent days, Israeli forces and Hamas have overseen the handover of human remains in a transaction that follows the contours of a wider, uneasy truce — one that has temporarily halted the fiercest fighting but has not ended the humanitarian catastrophe or the political tectonics that…

Twenty freed after two years: faces and small artifacts of a long national grief When word reached Tel Aviv that 20 living hostages had been released from Gaza under a ceasefire deal, the city's already taut air broke into song, sobs and the kind of relieved, stunned silence that follows long waits for a miracle. Families who had camped for months outside government offices embraced strangers. At a central square, a woman who had been at almost every protest sat down and laughed with disbelief. A radio blared an old pop…

The acting chief of Hamas in Gaza, Khalil al-Hayya, recently expressed that any potential hostage-for-prisoners exchange deal with Israel hinges on the cessation of hostilities in the region. “A prisoner swap is off the table if the war continues,” Mr. Hayya articulated during a discussion on Al-Aqsa television. He reinforced the group's stance regarding the conditions necessary for the conflict's resolution. “If the aggression persists, why would Hamas, or any rational actor, relinquish a valuable bargaining chip while…

Left to right: Elia Toledano, Cpl. Nik Beizer, Sgt. Ron Sherman. Their remains were found on December 15, 2023. (Courtesy Photo) After months of denials, the Israeli military admits there’s a "high probability" that an airstrike they carried out led to the deaths of three Israeli captives in Gaza this past November. On Sunday, the military said they were unaware that the captives were in a tunnel in the Palestinian territory when the attack happened on November 10, 2023. The bodies of Corporal Nik Beizer, Sergeant Ron…

Who negotiated the discharge of 4 hostages, together with Soumaïla Cissé and Sophie Pétronin, two weeks in the past in northern Mali? Among the many names circulating is the Mauritanian Moustapha Chafi, who for a very long time was the particular adviser to Burkinabé President Blaise Compaoré. Final Sunday, after 11 years of exile, Moustapha Chafi returned to his nation. On this event, he provides some confidentiality about his work as a…

A UN peacekeeping man was killed in northern Mali and one other severely injured after their automobile hit a roadside bomb on Thursday, the UN mission mentioned. The assault got here as officers within the capital Bamako protested in opposition to the federal government’s “selective launch” of overseas hostages in hostages.…