War

March 5, 2025
Vikrant

The US stops sending intelligence to Ukraine

In light of allied tensions, CIA Director John Ratcliffe affirms the US “pause” on intelligence sharing with Kyiv. The suspension of intelligence sharing between Kyiv and the United States...

March 4, 2025
Vikrant

Following his confrontation with Zelenskyy, Trump suspends US military assistance to Ukraine: What comes next?

Amid urgent defense requirements against Russia, US President Trump has suspended all military help to Ukraine, including the supply of billions of dollars in weapons. As European partners find...

Hamas released six hostages from Gaza on Saturday, handing over the final living captives whom the warring sides agreed would be freed when a ceasefire began last month. Israel is due to release about 600 Palestinian detainees in exchange. In the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Red Cross authorities received the first two freed captives, 40-year-old Tal Shoham and 38-year-old Avera Mengistu. Shoham, his wife, mother-in-law, and two children were abducted from Kibbutz Be'eri; they were all freed in November 2023. In 2014, Mengistu, an Ashkelon-born Israeli, entered Gaza. Three of the captives, Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23, were later released in a highly staged ceremony in Nuseirat, central Gaza, where thousands of people, including Hamas fighters, assembled. Several kids wearing shirts featuring images of the slain Hamas leaders made their stage debuts. At the Nova music festival, which is close to the Gaza border, the three guys were abducted. Compared to some of the previously released hostages, whose health alarmed Israel, they seemed thinner but in better shape. Shem Tov blew a kiss in the direction of the audience and seemed to interact with some of the Hamas fighters on stage. According to an Israeli intelligence source and a Hamas source, the Red Cross in Gaza received the sixth hostage, 37-year-old Hisham al-Sayed, an Arab-Israeli from a Bedouin hamlet in southern Israel who went into Gaza in 2015. According to reports, Mengistu and Al-Sayed both suffer from severe mental illnesses. The four others were abducted during the October 7, 2023, attack, whereas they were taken by Hamas almost ten years previously. The captives had entered Israel, according to the Israeli military, and will be evaluated medically before being reunited with their relatives. The list of about 600 inmates and detainees who are anticipated to be released in exchange was sent to the Palestinian Prisoners Office on Saturday. Of those, 445 had been held in detention in Gaza since October 7, 2023, 50 had been serving life sentences, and 60 had been given lengthy terms. The last surviving prisoners that Israel and Hamas agreed to trade when indirect negotiations in Qatar last month resulted in a truce accord are the ones being freed on Saturday. The "completion of a hostage deal is a humanitarian, moral, and Jewish imperative," stated Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Saturday. The released hostages of today, he said, "return from the depths of hell to begin the process of healing and recovery alongside their loving families, who fought with all their strength for them." Shoham and Mengistu were paraded on stage with armed and masked militants on each side of them just before they were turned over to the Red Cross in Rafah. They were given papers, and Shoham had to speak in front of the assembly. Following a public outrage over Hamas releasing the incorrect body, the remains of another captive, Shiri Bibas, arrived in Tel Aviv on Friday night. In addition to her sons, Kfir and Ariel, and another prisoner, Oded Lifshitz, Bibas' remains were anticipated to be among the four captives that Hamas returned on Thursday. Although Israeli officials' forensic testing verified that the bones contained those of Lifshitz and the two boys, the fourth body was not Shiri Bibas's, and it did not resemble the remains of any other Israeli captive, which infuriated and condemned the country. On Friday night, a convoy bearing Bibas' remains—which Hamas had given to the Red Cross—arrived in Tel Aviv. Our Shiri was taken home last night. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum released a statement from Shiri's family on Saturday, saying, "We received the news this morning that we had feared: our Shiri was murdered in captivity after the identification process at the Institute for Forensic Medicine." Hamas and its supporters will still be holding 63 Israeli hostages in Gaza following Saturday's releases. The Israeli government claims that at least 32 of them are dead, including Hadar Goldin, a soldier who has been detained since 2014. The first step of the deal's transfer procedure will be finished if the four additional captive bodies are freed as scheduled next week. The truce is being extended through indirect talks between Israel and Hamas. The start of those discussions was delayed by over two weeks. Hamas said on Saturday that it is willing to turn over all of the Israeli prisoners that are still alive and dead in one group in return for Israeli soldiers leaving Gaza as part of the ceasefire's next phase.

February 22, 2025
Vikrant

Hamas has handed over final living hostages to be released under first phase of Gaza ceasefire

Hamas released six hostages from Gaza on Saturday, handing over the final living captives whom the warring sides agreed would be freed when a ceasefire began last month. Israel...

February 20, 2025
Vikrant

“Not far away” is how Donald Trump describes World War III, but he has a plan to stop it.

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US and Russian officials will meet in Saudi Arabia without Ukrainians for a military briefing on Ukraine

February 16, 2025
Rashtriya Prastavana

US and Russian officials to meet in Saudi Arabia

Sergei Lavrov of US and Russian Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke about taking down “unilateral barriers”; According to Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Europe would not participate in the...

February 11, 2025
Vikrant

Trump issues an ultimatum, jeopardizing the Israel-Hamas ceasefire in Gaza

According to US President Donald Trump, if all Israeli prisoners are not freed by Saturday, the ceasefire agreement in Gaza should be cancelled. His remarks followed Hamas’ decision to...

February 10, 2025
Vikrant

Egypt Arab Summit Gaza | Rashtriya Prastavana

Egypt has announced an emergency Arab summit on Gaza following the unveiling of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s controversial plan , which has angered key regional allies . The...

trump-threatens-russia-with-sanctions-and-tariffs

January 24, 2025
Vikrant

Trump Threatens Russia Over Ukraine War | Rashtriya Prastavana

In a bold statement, former President Donald Trump has warned Russia of severe sanctions and tariffs if President Vladimir Putin does not bring an end to the ongoing conflict...