Israel preps for Thursday hostage release, Trump Mideast envoy in Israel

The Jerusalem Ministry announced on Wednesday that it had completed preparations to replace services in east Jerusalem previously provided by UNRWA, as a law to Israeli cooperation with UNRWA is set to come into effect on Thursday.

However, civil society organizations warned that the ministry’s preparation, which was carried out by the Jerusalem Municipality, were insufficient and would leave civilians in limbo.

UNRWA’s main operations in east Jerusalem are education, health services, and sanitation. The majority of its services are provided in the Shuafat Refugee Camp, which is under municipal jurisdiction but physically separated by the Separation Fence. Five-year programs to develop east Jerusalem and other programs largely do not operate in the camp, leaving it dependent on external services to a large extent.

Egypt will not participate in the displacement of Palestinians, an "act of injustice" that would threaten Egyptian security, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said on Wednesday, his first public response to Donald Trump's call for Cairo to take in residents of the Gaza Strip.

Speaking at a press conference with visiting Kenyan president William Ruto, Sisi said Egypt would work with the new US president to reach peace between Israel and Palestinians based on a two-state solution.

"Regarding what is being said about the displacement of Palestinians, it can never be tolerated or allowed because of its impact on Egyptian national security," Sisi said.

Defense Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday potentially signaled a decades-long change in policy saying that the IDF would remain in Jenin even after the current 8-day long operation ends, giving no withdrawal date.

Generally, since the Second Intifada of 2000-2005, the IDF has not stationed troops for any extended period within major Palestinian cities like Jenin.

Rather, the IDF has carried out several multi-day operations in Jenin since mid-2023, but has always completely withdrawn its forces afterwards.

The home of the terrorist who killed Stf.-Sgt. (res.) Elchanan Ariel Klein and injured four Border Police officers, was demolished during a joint counterterrorism operation on Tuesday night in Shuweika with the Shin Bet, and Border Police, the IDF said in a statement on Wednesday.

The terrorist was part of the terror cell that committed the terror attack on November 2, 2023.

"Liri Elbag saved my life," is just one of the revelations of released hostage Amit Soussana's exclusive, first-time interview with N12's Uvda on Tuesday night.

Soussana, a 40-year-old lawyer taken captive from Kfar Aza, has been a prominent campaigner for the release of the remaining hostages from Gaza, and was the first released hostage to give public and direct testimony of the sexual abuse she endured at the hands of Hamas terrorists.

October 7

In the N12 interview, she remembers the moments she was taken captive, and details the horrors endured during her 55 days in Hamas captivity. Soussana was released in the first hostage-prisoner exchange in November 2023.

The infamous footage of Soussana's kidnapping shows her, alone, battling ten armed men for more than 40 minutes, in what she called "the battler of her life."

She said she tried to buy as much time as she could to allow the army to rescue her.

Recently released hostage Amit Soussana's remarkable courage shines in a new video on N12. The footage vividly captures her brave stand against seven terrorists, as she adamantly refuses to be taken hostage. Read more: https://t.co/JjmY2ohHHZ pic.twitter.com/wVdimQETbj

— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) December 5, 2023

"I just stumbled, I walked slowly," she told N12. "At first, the terrorists probably believed me, then I started gesturing with my hands and feet and going wild – to make it look like I was alive." This was done in the hope that someone would come to her rescue. 

However, despite making things more difficult for her captors, Soussana suffered blows, beatings and one terrorist even hit her with the barrel of his gun. Her captors then tied her up with a blanket she was carried out of her house.

"They bust my lip open, broke my nose and my eye socket. I didn't feel any pain, I don't remember pain. I just remember saying, 'They're going to kill me, so at least I won't go without a fight,'" she told N12.

"I gave everything I had, because I thought I was going to die and in the most horrible way possible," she continued.

In captivity 

At the start of her captivity in Gaza, Soussana was held alone. Her captor tied her up with a thick metal chain, secured with a padlock. 

"I was afraid of him," she told N12. "There were many signs that it was heading towards an assault. Obsessive preoccupation with my period, many sexual innuendos, he would sit in bed next to me or in front of me with only underwear, caressing me all the time under the pretext of concern. He would lift my shirt to see the scars. Sometimes he would talk about things that made me feel uncomfortable, I would move my head - but you still have to be nice to him."

Soussana said the only thing that kept her sane was the small bit of daylight that entered the room she was being held in.

Released hostage Amit Soussana, kidnapped on the deadly October 7 attack by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, talks to the press in front of her destroyed home at the Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Israel, January 29, 202 (credit: REUTERS/ALEXANDRE MENEGHINI)

“There’s darkness in Gaza," she said "you open your eyes and think they’re still closed. I kept looking at his gun, I imagined shooting him and running away. I’m also tied up all the time, so if I need to go to the bathroom I have to ask him. The thing that broke me was that he made it completely dark for me.”

Soon after this, she suffered serious sexual assault at gunpoint, when the terrorist guarding her offered her a hot shower.

"Even though I prepared myself [for assault] it surprised me," she said.

"This 'idiot' terrorist with such a 'goofy' face suddenly looked like a monster. He brought me a hand towel, I just took it and covered myself. He pulled me into the bedroom, I sat down by the door, locked myself in. He kept punching me and threatening me with the gun. It was a serious sexual assault at gunpoint."

'Liri is something special'

Three weeks after she was first taken hostage, during which she was held alone, Soussana was transferred to a new location where she met other hostages, including IDF observer Liri Elbag, who was released last weekend.

The violence and suffering Soussana endured was much worse in this house, she told N12, because the guards thought she was a soldier.

"Suddenly they brought two sticks, and simply tied me up while I was handcuffed by my hands and feet – like a grilled chicken, hanging upside down with masking tape on my face." The terrorists then proceeded to hit her on the soles of her feet with a wooden stick, and another tried to drive a spike into her eye.

N12 noted in relation to this story that Soussana's details may give insight into how captive soldiers are treated.

The guards told Soussana "You have 40 minutes to tell the truth, or I'll kill you."

At the point, Liri Elbag went out to speak to the guards, and successfully convinced them that Soussana was not a soldier, much less a senior official as the guards believed.

The guards backed down.

"Liri is something special," Soussana said. "She is a force. I told her when she came back: 'I don't know if they would have killed me or not, as far as I'm concerned, you saved my life.'"

Sexual assault in captivity

Soussana has been outspoken about the violence and sexual assault she suffered in Gaza.

In March 2024, she gave an eight hour interview to the New York Times, in which she detailed the rape she endured during captivity.

This made Soussana the first released hostage to give direct testimony of sexual atrocities committed by Hamas.

The first sexual assault occurred around October 24, when her captor Muhammad forced her to commit a sex act on him, Soussana told NYT.

“Then, with the gun pointed at me, [he] forced me to commit a sexual act on him,” Soussana said. After it was over, Muhammad left the room to wash up and left Soussana naked in the dark.

In November 2024, she spoke to the UN Security Council, providing details of her assault. She added that her experiences were an added incentive to fight for the release of the remaining hostages from Gaza.

“We, the hostages, made a vow to each other: if one of us were ever freed, we would never stop fighting for the release of the others. Today, I am fulfilling that promise by sharing my story, no matter how painful it is. Staying silent would be even harder.”

Israel banned two NGOs operating in the north with relations to Hamas and an outlawed organization from 2015.

According to a statement by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Defense Ministry, following prolonged activity, the "Ifshaa’ Al-Salam" committees (the Peace Spreading Committees), belonging to the outlawed Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, have been outlawed, and their offices were closed on Tuesday.

The official statement added that Defense Minister Israel Katz signed an order outlawing "Ifshaa’ Al-Salam" “after the presentation of well-founded and unambiguous intelligence information collected on their activities.”

The Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement was declared an impermissible association in 2015 due to economic and ideological ties with Hamas and due to its inciting activity in Jerusalem and on Temple Mount.

Its counterpart, the Southern Branch, is seen as more pragmatic and moderate, even participating in Israeli politics under the Ra’am party.

Raed Salah, leader of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel protests in Umm el-Fahm. November 9, 2024. (credit: JAMAL AWAD/FLASH90)

Raed Salah, an imam from Umm el-Fahm who was arrested several times for incitement to violence and has led the Northern Branch for years, was arrested again in this context.

The statement accused Raed Salah of having built his public image over the years as a ‘defender of Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem’ from the Jewish takeover “while inciting and inflaming sentiments and using jihadist expressions, which translated into violence and disorder on the ground.”

The "Ifshaa’ al-Salam" committees were established by Raed Salah in 2017, only two years after the outlawing of his former association. According to the statement, despite the committees’ stated goal of dealing with the issue of violence in the Arab sector,

In practice, it was established as a cover for the continuation of the Northern Branch’s activities “in accordance with the worldview of the Muslim Brotherhood and to spread the Tanas's anti-Israeli agenda.”

As part of their activities, activists of the committees, led by Raed Salah, visited educational institutions in Arab society with the aim of spreading the teachings of the outlawed Northern Branch.

The statement referred to the committees as “an entire system based on the Northern Branch’s past infrastructure,” which aims to create an affinity between Arab society and its ideology in order to preserve and strengthen Raed Salah's position and ideologies.

In addition, another association found to be financing the committee, named "Mu'assat Al-Silm Al-Ajtma'i Lil-Islah Wal-Tahkim" (Social Peace Foundation for Reform and Arbitration) was also closed and its bank accounts were frozen.

Israeli expert: A game of cat and mouse 

Dr. Nathaniel S. Avneri, who specializes in religious sermons, societal trends ,and public sentiments within the Arab community in Israel, explained that the outlawing of these NGOs is a direct continuation of the crackdown against the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, banned in Israel in 2015 for its connections with Hamas and the global Muslim Brotherhood movement.

“These NGOs were outlawed based on proof of their relations to the Northern Branch, which was banned in 2015, including at the organizational and cadre levels,” explained Avneri.

“This move has economic and legal implications. But it’s really a game of cat and mouse, and they will probably move on to establish a new NGO under a new name and continue their activities from there,” he added.

Avneri elaborated that the ban was directed at organizations, not at its cadres, who are local icons such as Raed Salah, which explains how they can still operate relatively freely.

"The future may hold more such bans, but tools are limited,” he concluded.

The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and thanked him for "his mediation efforts to secure the release of hostages from Gaza" according to a statement by the US State Department on Tuesday evening.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Egypt's foreign minister on Tuesday it was important to ensure Hamas terrorists can never govern Gaza again, the State Department said, with their call coming after President Donald Trump suggested Egypt and Jordan should take more Palestinians.

About 70 reserve officers have completed the first training course for the IDF’s new ‘Telam’ Command (support, accompaniment, and rights fulfillment), and will assume their roles in the coming days, the Military and Defense Ministry announced in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Russia and Syria will hold further talks regarding Russian military bases in Syria, Russia's news agencies reported late on Tuesday, citing Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as telling journalists after his talks with Syrian officials.