Daily JFNA Israel Update: November 29, 2023

The Jewish Federations of North America

Israel Office Daily Update: November 29, 2023

November 29, 2023

The Latest

Since October 7 :

• 1,225 Israelis have been killed, including 395 soldiers.
• 88 hostages have been freed, but 155 remain in captivity.
• 10,500 rockets have been fired at Israeli civilian targets.
• 9,038 Israelis have been injured.

Hostages

• As part of the hostage-release deal, 88 hostages have been freed from Hamas captivity in five groups over the last five days and reunited with their families in Israel. An additional 10 Israelis will be released tonight. Additionally, two hostages with Russian citizenship, and possibly Israeli citizenship, will be released in a gesture to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
• The hostages set free so far have mainly been young children, their mothers, elderly women, and foreign workers (mainly from Thailand).
• In exchange for those let out, Israel has released some 210 terrorists from prison and granted a six-day ceasefire. Terrorists released as part of the deal were all women, and under-18 minors, most serving sentences for attempted murder, stabbings, and other terror attacks.
• There are still 155 hostages in Gaza, including 9 children.
  • One of the children is Kfir Bibas, now nine months old. Kfir has spent a fifth of his life in captivity. He was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz along with his 4-year-old brother Ariel and parents Yarden, 34, and Shiri, 32.
  • The White House has confirmed that nine American citizens remain in captivity.
• After the initial exchange of 50 hostages for 150 terrorists and a four-day ceasefire, the agreement has been extended by two days and may be further prolonged by four days. According to the terms, releasing more hostages prompts the release of three terrorists per hostage, and every ten hostages released result in an extra day of ceasefire from Israel.
• While most hostages were returned in reasonably good health, many are suffering from malnutrition, and have spoken of harsh conditions and the psychological warfare waged against them.
  • Reports emerge that most hostages were kept in the darkness causing them to lose track of day and night without seeing daylight for almost two months.
  • One hostage, 12-year-old Eytan Yahalomi, witnessed his father being killed on October 7 before he was kidnapped alone. During captivity, Hamas terrorists beat Yahalomi and forced him at gunpoint to watch footage taken by them as they were massacring Israelis in his kibbutz.
  • One 9-year-old girl lost all track of time and upon release was certain that she had been held for a year.
  • A number of the children released from captivity, including 9-year-old Irish-Israeli Emily Hand, are only speaking in whispers and have not yet acclimated to being able to speak in a normal voice. Hostages are reporting that any time children spoke loudly, Hamas terrorists aimed rifles at them.
  • Most adults lost 30-40 pounds due to lack of food.
  • Nonetheless, Hamas attempts a positive image by releasing hostages on camera, featuring gentle treatment and instructing children to wave. One hostage was forced to thank Hamas.
  • Elma Avraham, 84, who was returned to Israel in critical condition on Sunday night after her release, has now been taken off a ventilator and her health is continuing to improve.
• See these stories of some of the hostages who have been released:
  • Adina Moshe, 72, was the first hostage released on Friday. A resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, she was kidnapped on October 7th while her husband was murdered. In a widely-viewed video, even after weeks in captivity, Adina was shown swatting away the hand of a Hamas terrorist during her transfer to the Red Cross. She told her family that until that moment she thought she was being taken to her execution and that she had been held underground for the duration of the fifty days in captivity.
  • Ohad Munder, 9, marked his birthday in Hamas captivity as was reported by NBC News. He was released along with his mother and grandmother but his grandfather remains in captivity. The IDF released footage from the helicopter voyage taking him to safety. In an Israeli hospital, he was able to celebrate his birthday with friends, including a visit from his favorite soccer team, Hapoel Beer Sheva.
  • Yaffa Adar, 85, was one of the more well-known hostages, as a result of images of her being taken captive to Gaza on a golf cart. Her family recalled the story surrounding the events of October 7th.
  • Hagar, 40, Ofri, 10, Yuval, 9, and Oriya Brodutch, 4 were released on Sunday. Their father Avichai was interviewed by ABC News in October describing how he felt like he won the lottery after finding out that his family was kidnapped and not dead. The image of him reunited with his family alongside a picture taken several weeks ago of him alone is being widely shared on social media.
  • Jimmy Pacheco is a Filipino caregiver who was released. He lived in Kibbutz Nir Oz where he cared for Amitai Ben Zvi, 80 who was killed in the attack. Ben Zvi’s daughter had written, “Jimmy had been working in Israel for five years, caring for Amitai Ben Zvi for the last four years, serving his employer with “quiet, admirable devotion, always attentive to his needs and supportive in countless ways.”  Following his release and reports of his remarkable dedication, the Israeli government said it would provide lifetime benefits and stipends for Pacheco.

Israel Defense Forces Operations

• As part of the hostage deal, Israel has paused operations in Gaza. The deal also includes six hours per day when Israel suspends drone movement over Gaza.
• Nonetheless, several soldiers were lightly wounded on Tuesday in a Hamas attack which appeared to be the first serious violation of the temporary pause in fighting. Three explosive devices were detonated near forces at two separate locations in the northern Gaza Strip. The army said that in one of the incidents, gunfire was also directed at troops, who returned fire.
• The IDF says that it will continue its war on Hamas, to eliminate the terror organization, as soon as the ceasefire expires.
• The IDF announced the deaths of three soldiers from the Hamas attack of October 7 and said that their bodies are being held by the terror group in Gaza. The three soldiers were initially believed to have been kidnapped and were classified as such by the IDF. However, after examining new evidence, the military determined that they had been killed on the day of the attack, making them “fallen soldiers held hostage by a terror group.”
• The Hamas-run Gazan Health Ministry says that over 13,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, as a result of the war.

International Response

• The US military has also paused its flights of surveillance drones over Gaza during the truce. The Pentagon announced that, “In compliance with the agreement reached between Israel and Hamas, we are not currently conducting (drone) flights. And so those have been paused for now.”
• For the second time in a week, an official Qatari plane landed at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport on Tuesday morning. Israel and Qatar do not have diplomatic relations but have held close meetings in recent weeks, with the Gulf state playing a crucial role in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and the deal to release hostages.
• Following weeks of criticism over its silence about evidence of sexual violence during the attack, the women’s rights group UN Women issued a statement condemning the terror group on Friday. Sadly, the group deleted the post shortly afterward. “We condemn the brutal attacks by Hamas on October 7 and continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” read the initial statement, posted on UN Women’s Instagram page. It was soon replaced with a statement that dropped the condemnation of Hamas and only called for the release of the hostages.
• A ship dispatched by France has docked off the coast of El Arish in Egypt’s northern Sinai and will serve as a floating hospital for Palestinian civilians wounded in the Israel-Hamas war in adjacent Gaza. The Dixmude contains 40 hospital beds and is also equipped with a helicopter landing pad to allow for the speedy transfer of patients from Egypt’s Rafah crossing with Gaza, onto the ship.

Stories of Heartbreak, Heroism And Hope

• Read about Aviv Baram, who died defending his home in Kfar Aza on October 7, and watch the difficult video of his father (who worked for the Jewish Agency’s Fund for the Victims of Terror) speaking about him.
• A powerful interview on CNN with a woman whose father was murdered on October 7, and now has seen six family members freed.
• Watch this video about JDC’s unique trauma therapy tool, “Hibbuki.”
• Eritrean national, and foreign worker, Mulugeta Tsagi received permanent residency status in Israel on Sunday in appreciation for saving the life of an Israeli soldier on Oct. 7. Tsagi administered life-saving first aid to an IDF officer shot by Hamas terrorists in Sderot, and then stayed with the officer for several hours until he finally reached a hospital.
• Role Reversal: The evacuated residents of Sa’ad, on the Gaza border, have been living at the Nevo Hotel these past seven weeks. The evacuees have been so taken by the service, warmth, and love shown to them by the hotel’s employees that they organized to swap roles and prepare a special meal for the employees. The evacuees prepared and cooked the meal, decorated the hall, served the food, and applauded the workers.
• Diaspora Jewry has raised $750 million to aid Israel’s post-war recovery efforts, according to a joint Knesset meeting on Monday by the Economy and Aliyah, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs committees in the Knesset.

Further Reading

• The US College Campus as a Long-term Strategic Threat to Israel, the US, and Global Stability
• Atlantic Council: Why Israel has no imminent plans to wind down its war on Hamas
• The intelligence failures of October 7

Additional Resources

• Resources: Readers can access a Jewish Federations toolkit of resources here, and can refer to the Community Mobilization Center Resource Hub for the latest talking points, tools, and other resources.
• Details: For full details about the home front and military operations, see this update. And for information on the latest overall numbers from the conflict, see here.
• Webinar: The Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI): Daily webinars sponsored by Jewish Federations and the Jewish Agency are offered. A rotating team of analysts of Israeli military affairs, the US-Israel relationship, Israel’s political system, and the country’s diverse society will speak every Sunday to Thursday from 11-11:30 am ET. No registration is required. Join here.
• Jewish Federations have now raised a total of more than $659 million system-wide and allocated close to $200 million to a wide range of humanitarian organizations in Israel. See our impact stats.
• Volunteering: Read this Jewish Federtions update on the latest volunteering opportunities in Israel right now.
• Supporting Pastoral Guidance and Rabbinic Services. Read about the work to date that Federations are supporting in this field through collective Israel emergency dollars.
• Local Authorities: Jewish Federations have produced a document answering questions about funding-impacted localities and municipalities in Israel. See here.
• Map: This site shows a map of the October 7 massacre with a red dot for every person killed and a black dot for every person abducted by Hamas. Clicking on any dot will show the name and picture (if available) of the victim with age and last known location.
• Read the latest communication from the Community Mobilization Center here.
• Funders: As many funders struggle to distinguish between the multitudes of organizations looking for important resources, the Jewish Funders Network has produced this thorough page of guidance.
• Previous updates can be found here.

Jewish Federations

Our Israel Office, having activated emergency protocols, is working closely with our partners on the ground, and is in close contact with the Government of Israel and the IDF. We will continue to update as the situation develops.