President Isaac Herzog of Israel met Thursday with ambassadors from countries whose citizens were killed and kidnapped by Hamas in the militant group’s brutal cross-border attack Oct. 7.
Quick Read
- Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with ambassadors from Thailand, Nepal, the Philippines, and Tanzania concerning their citizens killed or kidnapped by Hamas in the October 7 attack.
- The foreign workers and students affected by the Hamas attack were involved in low-wage jobs and educational programs in Israel.
- Thai ambassador Pannabha Chandraramya expressed concern about the Thai citizens killed, kidnapped, and those still in Israel.
- President Herzog committed to working “tirelessly” to return the hostages.
- Out of 240 identified hostages, over half are said to have foreign passports, with some possibly holding dual citizenship.
- U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly reported difficulty in establishing a humanitarian pause in the Israel-Hamas conflict, despite global consensus on the need for aid in Gaza.
- The U.K. deems calls for a broad cease-fire as premature.
- In Romania, around 200 people demonstrated support for Israel and the hostages, with Israeli flags and placards highlighting the kidnapped individuals.
- Israel’s ambassador to Romania, Reuven Azar, condemned Hamas’s actions and equated them to ISIS, asserting that both need to be eradicated.
- Three Romanian-Israeli dual citizens are among the hostages, with at least five Romanians confirmed dead in the conflict.
The Associated Press has the story:
Israel’s President met Foreign ambassadors to discuss hostages’ plight
Newslooks- JERUSALEM (AP)
President Isaac Herzog of Israel met Thursday with ambassadors from countries whose citizens were killed and kidnapped by Hamas in the militant group’s brutal cross-border attack Oct. 7.
The meeting with ambassadors from Thailand, Nepal, the Philippines and Tanzania dealt with the plight of foreign workers killed and kidnapped in the attack. Many worked low-wage jobs in Israeli communities near the Gaza border as farmworkers and caregivers, or were students participating in programs to learn agricultural techniques.
“We are suffering a lot,” said Thai ambassador Pannabha Chandraramya, whose country saw 29 citizens killed by Hamas and 24 taken hostage. “The news about Israel is every day in the Thai media and we are concerned about the well-being of the Thai people who are still living here and working here in Israel,” she said.
Hamas also killed four Filipino caregivers and 10 Nepali students studying agriculture, according to the ambassadors. At least two Tanzanian agriculture students, two Nepalese citizens and two Filipino citizens were taken hostage.
Herzog vowed that Israel would “work tirelessly” to bring the hostages home.
Of the 240 hostages identified by the Israeli government, just over half have foreign passports, according to a preliminary analysis done by the Israeli government. It is unclear how many have dual citizenship and how many are foreign nationals.
UK FOREIGN SECRETARY SAYS IT’S ‘VERY DIFFICULT’ TO ACHIEVE PAUSE IN FIGHTING
Newslooks- BLETCHLEY PARK, England
U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly says it is proving very difficult to bring about a pause in the Israel-Hamas war to allow humanitarian aid to reach people in Gaza.
Cleverly said that “pretty much the whole world has been agreed that we need to get increased volumes of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
“We, the U.S., voices all over the world have been pushing for, you know, these humanitarian pauses — temporary, localized, specifically for humanitarian purposes. They’ve proven to be very, very difficult to achieve,” he told reporters at an AI Safety Summit in England.
Cleverly, who has made several trips to the Middle East since the war began, said “we will keep pushing to get those humanitarian pauses … for as long as it takes.”
He said the U.K. position remains that “calls for a broad cease-fire are premature.”
HUNDREDS RALLY IN BUCHAREST IN SHOW OF SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL
BUCHAREST, Romania — Around 200 people rallied in Romania’s capital on Thursday to pledge solidarity with Israel and the hostages being held by the Hamas militant group.
Held in central Bucharest, many attendees brandished placards depicting the faces of some of those kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, while others waved Israeli flags that read: “We stand with Israel.”
Israel’s ambassador to Romania, Reuven Azar, told the crowd that, “We are standing today here in solidarity with all the hostages” and referred to Hamas as a “force of barbarism.”
“They infiltrated our cities, they decapitated our people, our babies — they burned them alive,” he said. “They are the new ISIS, and ISIS must be eradicated, Hamas must be eradicated because Hamas is a threat to the entire world.”
Three dual Romanian-Israeli citizens are among those held captive in the Gaza Strip, according to Romania’s foreign ministry.
Since Hamas launched its attack on Israel nearly a month ago, at least five Romanian citizens, all of whom resided in Israel and held dual Israeli citizenship, have been confirmed dead
